Perhaps you recall the 2015 nationwide outbreak of measles that originated in Disneyland among nonimmunized children. The vaccination rates in affected communities were well below the numbers needed to create “herd immunity” and protect individuals who could not safely be immunized.

Pertussis, or whooping cough, is also on a frightening overall rise, both in cases and resulting deaths, especially in the last decade. In 1976, there were as few as 1,010 reported cases. But in 2012, the most recent peak year reported by the C.D.C., there were 48,277 cases (the largest number since the mid-1950s) and 18 deaths, almost all affecting infants. Half of babies with pertussis require hospitalization.

I’ll spare you further harrowing examples of complications that can accompany vaccine-preventable diseases. Suffice it to say that health professionals need to do a better job of countering the resistance of parents who refuse recommended immunizations for their children. While vaccination critics have existed for as long as there have been vaccines, the problem of widespread resistance in this country began with a 1982 documentary alleging adverse reactions to the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine that minimized its benefits.

Then, 25 years later, the anti-vaccine movement was magnified by a falsified and later discredited report suggesting that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine was causing an epidemic of autism. Further fueling vaccine resistance was parental concern that administration of multiple vaccines at one time to very young children was hazardous despite expert reassurance to the contrary.

As one specialist, Chephra McKee, told me, “Spreading out the vaccines means having to bring babies to the doctor or clinic multiple times, poking them over and over again and exposing them unnecessarily to sick children in the waiting room.”

So what now can be done to improve immunization rates? Dr. McKee, doctor of pharmacy at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, wants health providers to be more open and willing to speak to parents about their vaccine concerns. Too often, she said, parents have told her “No one wants to listen to me about why I’m reluctant to vaccinate my child.”

For parents worried about the safety of vaccines, Dr. McKee said health providers should be educating them about the benefits of immunizations and risks involved in refusing to vaccinate their children.