Are we giving too many vaccines too soon?

There are many more vaccines offered to infants now than when I went into practice. But despite the increase in the total of vaccines given, the number of “foreign proteins” (or antigens) in all of the vaccines given today that the child is exposed to is fewer in the vaccines we used prior to 1985.
 
This reduction in antigens is because vaccines have improved dramatically in the past few decades and components that aren’t necessary to develop immunity have been eliminated.
 
Infants are exposed to more germs and antigens at birth (as well as with the introduction of new foods, ear infections or strep throat) than with vaccines.
 
The immune system of an infant is designed to deal with foreign proteins. It is not foreign proteins that can overwhelm an infant’s immune system, but infections with diseases such as pneumococcal meningitis.  

Vaccines are produced by taking the germs that cause serious illness, and modifying them to render them harmless by killing them or weakening them. Some vaccines, such as hepatitis B, are not even made from the virus, but are copies of the viral capsule, mimicking the real deal.
 
It is your child’s natural process of developing immunity and their competent immune system that makes vaccines effective. The very studies that prove that immunity is produced by a vaccine also prove that the child’s immune system is not overwhelmed by that vaccine. 

Combination vaccines are proven to produce immunity that is not inferior to that produced by individual vaccines, and the vaccination schedule itself has been studied to show that giving the recommended vaccines simultaneously will produce good immunity. Again, the presence of good immunity is proof that the immune system has not been overwhelmed.

What about the stress of getting multiple shots at one visit? Well, when we are stressed, we produce specific hormones that can be measured in our blood and there are scales of infant discomfort that have been validated.  

Pediatricians as well as parents were concerned when the number of vaccinations recommended for infants began to increase because it is no fun for the doctor or for the nurse to have to give multiple shots at one visit, and combination vaccines were not immediately available.  

Several studies have shown that getting one shot is, as parents and doctors know, very stressful for children. Interestingly, however, the stress of getting five isn’t any different than getting one – both are equally strong stressors. Spreading out the shots just puts you and your child through more episodes of distress and leaves him or her vulnerable to infection longer.

How many of you insist on bicycle helmets for our children when they start to ride? We can see that they are most vulnerable to falls and injury when they are young and inexperienced. Unfortunately, infants and young children are more vulnerable to those catastrophic infections that are vaccine preventable. 

Delaying vaccinations delays effective protection, and puts your baby’s life and health at risk.