Flu from A to Z

In medicine, compliance (also called adherence) describes the degree to which a patient correctly follows medical advice. Poor compliance with vaccination remains a major public health issue. While approved vaccines have a long track record of substantially reducing morbidity and mortality from a large number of infectious diseases, large sections of the public and many health professionals remain unconvinced of the benefits of some or all of the vaccines and show considerable concern for the potential adverse health consequences. There is strong evidence that the prevalence of "vaccine refusal" is increasing, based on the percentage of children not vaccinated for non-medical reasons.