At the beginning of a child's life before they reach the age of two they have to have 12 shoots. The purpose of this is to prevent them from catching any viruses later on in life. It is important for children to have these vaccination especially if they are going to be in the community environments like schools or stores, where a lot of germs can be. Before a infant enters into child care center they have to have the proper shots to even attend, and they are required to give an updated shoot record every time they have a visit to their doctors office. I had a family come into my center this week, and they were interested in entering their 1 year old daughter. They do not get shots for their daughter due to religious reasons. The mother began to explain to me that they are naturalist, and there is no medication that can help their child if she becomes ill. They believe in natural supplements to take the place of medication. She than began to tell me about the different side effects that some children might encounter by getting the vaccination. This was the first time I have ever heard of this, I thought it was very interesting actually. I know for my 4 year old, he gets all the shoots required, except the flu shoot. We still don't think he needs it only because of some of the side effects it gives. So my prospect parent feels the same way about the required shots for her daughter. Because this is a religious matter we are not going to discriminate on her enrollment, but we do need a lot more paper work from the doctor.