Knoxville anti-vaccine parents speak out Copyright by WATE - All rights reserved There's a small, but passionate, group of parents in East Tennessee who refuse to vaccinate their children. They've been hesitant to speak publicly, afraid of the backlash, until now. [ + - ] Video

Jill McNeal, WATE 6 On Your Side Anchor/Reporter - KNOXVILLE (WATE) - The anti-vaccine movement is making headlines all over the country, blamed for the recent outbreak of measles in 17 states. There's a small, but passionate, group of parents in East Tennessee who refuse to vaccinate their children. They've been hesitant to speak publicly, afraid of the backlash, until now.

Robin Alley, mother of Lucas, 1, and Luna, 4, doesn't like the ingredients in some vaccines.

"The aluminum, the formaldehyde which is a known carcinogen, polysorbate 80, which is a known neurotoxin," Alley said

The list of rare but possible side effects, including death, is scary, too.

"Do we want to make our children take that one vaccine that might be the last day of its life because of that vaccine?" asked mother Amanda Kiser.

With recent measles cases in other states, mostly among the unvaccinated, are they worried? They say not really.

"There's a lot of things we do to boost our immune system. We full-term breast feed. We eat organic as much as possible. We garden. We play in the dirt," Alley said.

It's about personal freedom for these parents.

"Nothing is safe for everyone and you should be able to choose that risk for your family," said mother Anna Hurley.

That choice could affect those who can't be vaccinated. When it comes to measles, that includes children under one year old and others with compromised immune systems. Even those who are fully vaccinated have a three percent chance of catching the disease if exposed.

"Why does your freedom trump mine? Why should your child be protected by my child being in danger of what I feel like is a very dangerous thing, to inject these chemicals into my child?" said mother Jill Richards.

Kids in Tennessee must be vaccinated to go to public school, unless they claim a religious exemption. In other states, some lawmakers want to make vaccination mandatory.

"If a parent decides they don't want those substances in their child's body, they don't want to give them essentially this medication, they should have every right to do so," said mother Kimberly Fierley.

Many of these parents home school, like Marcie McBee, who says she stopped vaccinating her children after seeing the same reaction from two consecutive shots.

"When she screamed her lungs off for the next 72 hours again, we realized there was definitely a connection," McBee said.

She says their decision not to vaccinate made it very difficult to find private health insurance and they got kicked out of their pediatrician's practice.

"We haven't had a doctor since then," McBee said.

Dr. Russel Rhea is one of the few pediatricians in town who will accept unvaccinated patients.

"These kids need care too. They get sick and in order for them to have a medical home, I have opened up my practice to say I'll take care of those kids," Dr. Rhea said.

He admits that does pose a risk to his other patients, but he says it's not overwhelming. If parents ask him, he recommends vaccination.

"I believe the incidents of any of those side effects from the vaccines themselves are outweighed by the benefits we get from the vaccines," Dr. Rhea said.

That's the same message coming from the health department.

"I just think as parents we do absolutely everything we can to protect our children, just like wearing seatbelts in the car. I think vaccines are just as important," said Mary Ann Harrison, RN, who has been managing the immunization program at the Knox County Health Department for 15 years.

She's heard the concerns about vaccine ingredients.

"They're not things that are not consumed in other ways, either breathed in to our body from the environment or they're in our foods as preservatives," Harrison said.

She says those scary side effects are very rare.

"Your child has one in 12,000 chance of being struck by lightning. They have a one in one million chance of having a severe adverse reaction to a vaccine," Harrison said.

According to the CDC, the last two measles-related deaths in the United States were in 2003.