As a pediatrician, I have been profoundly affected by watching children suffer and die because of vaccine-preventable diseases. Over the last 15 years, I have watched a healthy teenager lose his life in 48 hours to meningococcemia despite heroic efforts to save him. I've seen a toddler lose his hearing after suffering from a spinal infection that could have been prevented with an Haemophilus influenza vaccine. I've seen kids with chicken pox get pneumonia and joint infections.

It's heartbreaking to tell a family that their child died or is suffering from a disease for which we have vaccinations. But here in Maine, that could happen more often. Recently there has been a spike in chicken pox and pertussis (whooping cough) cases likely related to the increased number of families who are opting out of immunization.