Spreading Vaccines – Harm to Children
Many vaccines are given to children these days, which is a good thing: it means that they are protected from many diseases. But some parents (and some presidential candidates) wonder if their kids are getting too many shots at once.
They are not. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s childhood vaccination schedule is carefully calculated based on research : as a child’s immune system matures, you want to give each vaccine as soon as it is safe and effective.
Distributing vaccines increases the risk without benefit. For example, the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine does not always “take” children under one year of age, so the CDC recommends that you wait until babies are 12 months old (or, if you must get the vaccine earlier, then give a second dose later). So postponing this vaccine will not help. One popular “alternative” vaccination schedule breaks down into three components, excluding the measles vaccine until the child is three years old, which means that he has two additional years from when he can be vaccinated until then. when he is actually vaccinated. This is unsafe and unwise; it simply puts the child at additional risk.
The American Academy of Pediatrics published a 2002 report in the journal Pediatrics raising concerns that the vaccine regimen might suppress the immune system of children. (Spoiler alert: no, it’s okay.) Actually, if the schedule looks overwhelming, it’s kind of an illusion. Children are now protected from more diseases, but vaccines have less antigen (active ingredient) than in the past:
Whereas previously one variola vaccine contained about 200 proteins, now [as of 2002] the 11 commonly recommended vaccines contain a total of less than 130 proteins. … [A] advances in protein chemistry have led to the creation of vaccines containing fewer antigens.
As of 2013, the number of antigens reached 152 , which is still small; babies are exposed to between 2,000 and 6,000 antigens a day simply by living their lives and stuffing dirty toys in their mouths. Combinations of vaccines given together have also been tested, and the Pediatrics Report summarizes the research done there:
If the vaccines suppressed or weakened the immune system, one would expect a smaller immune response when the vaccines are administered at the same time as compared to when they are administered at different times. However, the following vaccines elicit similar humoral immune responses when given at the same or different times: 1) MMR and chickenpox, 2) MMR, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) and OPV, 3) hepatitis B, diphtheria-tetanus , and OPV, 4) influenza and pneumococcus, 5) MMR, DTP-Hib and chickenpox, 6) MMR and Hib, and 7) DTP and Hib.
The extended schedule also means more doctor visits, making life harder for your child, as journalist Tara Halle explained on NPR :
Well, every time you go to the doctor, you expose your child to more germs that are in this office. You can get the disease every time you go to the office because sick children go there. … [One] child can receive one or three needles in one visit, and there is research showing that receiving three needles is no more traumatic than receiving one needle. But three different visits with a different needle are more traumatic each time.
In some cases, the child’s medical condition may mean that he may need an adjusted vaccination schedule, but this is an unusual situation that your doctor will discuss with you, not a decision to be made because you have looked at the list of vaccines and you have an intuitive feeling. that it was “too much.”
Photo by Maessive .
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