As families across Georgia prepare for a new school year, many are shopping for supplies, adjusting schedules and getting children ready for the months ahead. It is also a time when physicians begin preparing for something less visible but equally predictable: the return of seasonal viruses.
I see it every day in my practice. New parents holding newborns and asking thoughtful questions about vaccines. Healthy adults wondering what preventive care they need. Seniors looking for clear guidance on how to stay healthy. I welcome those questions. I have questions, too.
A patient once told me that every doctor she knows recommends vaccines. I asked her, “Why do you think they do that?” Her answer was: because doctors have studied the evidence.
Another patient told me doctors benefit financially from prescribing vaccines. I explained that there are no financial incentives for us to prescribe vaccines, or anything else. In fact, I often lose money when I spend 15 minutes answering vaccine questions, because that is time I could have spent seeing another patient. But those conversations matter, and I am always willing to have them.
As a family physician who has practiced in Gainesville, Georgia for more than 25 years, I have had the privilege of caring for patients at every stage of life, often treating grandparents, parents and children from the same family. Their questions are valid and they don’t scare me. What does frighten me, however, are diseases immunizations are meant to prevent.
These are the demographic groups most sensitive to illness
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Every year, we see increases in illnesses such as influenza, COVID-19, RSV and other respiratory infections. These viruses spread easily and can have serious consequences, especially for infants, older adults, pregnant women and those with chronic health conditions. While many people recover without complications, others do not.
I have cared for patients whose illnesses led to intensive care unit stays that no family should have to endure. I have also watched my own relatives experience the fear and uncertainty that comes with severe, preventable disease. The hardest part as a doctor and family member is knowing that many of those hospitalizations might never have happened.
The definition of prevention is stopping something before it occurs. As a patient, you want to stay healthy. As physicians, that is our goal every day.
I wish I could completely prevent every illness. I think about the 6-week-old infant exposed to measles in a daycare setting in Georgia who required intravenous (IV) treatment to reduce her risk of infection. I think about babies hospitalized with pertussis, or whooping cough, a disease that can be particularly dangerous during the first year of life. These are not abstract statistics. They are real children and real families facing frightening situations.
Vaccines remain one of the most effective tools we have to reduce those risks.
I understand that vaccines raise questions for some people. In my exam room, those questions are common, and they are welcome. My job is not to dismiss concerns but to listen, explain the science and help patients make informed decisions based on evidence rather than fear.
Measles cases are up. Fewer children are getting vaccinated.
Vaccines are not perfect. No medical intervention is. They do not prevent every infection, nor do they eliminate all transmission. What they do remarkably well, however, is reduce the risk of severe illness, hospitalization, long-term complications and death.
The influenza vaccine offers a useful example. Research consistently shows that vaccination substantially reduces the risk of dying from flu-related complications, particularly among children and vulnerable adults. Even when vaccinated individuals become ill, they are often protected from the worst outcomes.
The evidence supporting vaccination is strong. Vaccines help keep children in school, parents at work and families out of emergency rooms. They reduce strain on hospitals and protect those most vulnerable to infection.
Yet the data also show that we still have work to do.
Georgia has had 10 reported measles cases in 2025 and six already for 2026. Meanwhile, childhood vaccination rates have declined. Fewer kindergarten students are entering school fully vaccinated, and fewer young children are completing recommended vaccine series against diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.
Those trends matter.
Measles is not simply a childhood rash. It can cause pneumonia, brain inflammation, permanent disability and, in some cases, death.
When vaccination rates decline, outbreaks become more likely. That is not a reflection of individual failure. It is a reminder that we are interconnected. Your decisions impact others. Your decision matters.
Monica Newton, DO, is a family physician in Gainesville, Georgia, and president of the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians.
Send letters to the editor of 250 words or fewer with your name, city or town and contact information to letters@ajc.com.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
