Vaccination against infectious disease is one of the wonders of modern science, preventing millions of deaths per year worldwide. Yet across the country, a movement of so-called “anti-vaxxers,” who claim that some routine childhood vaccinations cause autism, has grown and some American parents are refusing to have their children vaccinated. Why are vaccinations important to children? And is there any merit to the claims of the anti-vaxx movement?

 In this podcast, Peter J. Hotez, Baker Institute fellow in disease and poverty, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and Texas Children’s Hospital endowed chair of tropical pediatrics, discusses vaccines, the anti-vaxx movement and its potential impacts on the health of children.