A reader writes:
I have been following this discussion because I am generally interested in the interaction between people and professionals with varying levels of expertise. Patients are often treated as if they have no capacity to make health decisions for their children, and that begins with the state of birth across this nation – highly medicalized and often traumatic for mothers. I wonder whether the vaccine denial is a sort of backlash.
All that being said, I strongly advocate immunizations because they obviously work, and I think it's irresponsible of parents to forgo them entirely. However, I have seen absolutely no discussion of the optimal schedule for vaccines.
With my first child, I followed the schedule dutifully, and I could tell from observation that the vaccines were hard on his immune system, sometimes causing fevers and cold-like symptoms. He also had a series of ear infections as a toddler and several rounds of antibiotics. With my second and third child, I was frank with doctors that I intended to adjust the sequence of vaccinations. I refused to begin before 6 months and refused more than two vaccinations per visit. My younger children were still on track with the required immunizations by age two. However, they have never experienced ear infections and have never needed antibiotics, even into adulthood. Their immune systems are robust. (I should also mention that breastfeeding was part of my equation for developing a healthy immune system in each child.)
In all of the discussion, what I am seeing is a polarized for or against on vaccines. I have no idea if my anecdote and personal choices had any impact on the immune responses my children have had, but it made sense to me that the infant immune system is too immature to handle the onslaught of vaccines in the first six months (approx. 15), and as long as children are breastfed, they could very safely begin their vaccination schedule at 6 months when the immune system is more mature.
Has anyone studied the efficacy of a delayed and gradual schedule of immunizations? The parent form from the CDC web site, p. 2 specifically [pdf], offers a table of horrible symptoms and complications and offers no room for parental discretion in this process. Just do what we tell you or suffer the consequences is the attitude their document projects.
Update: Another writes:
As I understand it, there is no such thing as "vaccine overload," so your reader is mistaken in the belief that "the infant immune system is too immature to handle the onslaught of vaccines in the first six months." From the multe-cited Wiki section:
The idea of vaccine overload is flawed, for several reasons. First, vaccines do not overwhelm the immune system; in fact, conservative estimates predict that the immune system can respond to thousands of viruses simultaneously.[44] Moreover, despite the increase in the number of vaccines over recent decades, improvements in vaccine design have reduced the immunologic load from vaccines, such that the number of immunological components in the fourteen vaccines administered to U.S. children in 2009 is less than 10% of what it was in the seven vaccines given in 1980.[44] Furthermore, vaccines constitute only a tiny fraction of the pathogens naturally encountered by a child in a typical year[44] and common childhood conditions such as fevers and middle ear infections pose a much greater challenge to the immune system than vaccines do.[48] Second, studies have shown that vaccinations, and even multiple concurrent vaccinations, do not weaken the immune system[44] or compromise overall immunity.[49]
Another:
Liberals will take issues like evolution and global warming seriously, but when bringing up the same scientific analysis regarding the suggested link between autism and vaccinations they will sometimes fall prey of "Mommy Instinct". I think that Jenny McCarthy sums it up the best:
PR.com: What has been your greatest lesson in this whole experience, dealing with Evan’s autism?
Jenny McCarthy: My greatest lesson is always to trust the mommy instinct. Always trust yourself. Always trust the gut instinct. It will never let you down.My wife still has a very negative opinion on Oprah for allowing McCarthy on her show to spew her theories because you cannot defend against the "Mommy Instinct". It's like a Birther. They are not going to stand for reason or science.
Another:
I just wanted to weigh in on this subject as someone who was not vaccinated as a child. I'm now almost 30. My parents chose not to vaccinate me and my siblings because they generally don't trust the medical establishment (despite being fairly conservative socially, they have always leaned toward hippy, cruchy, granola, etc.).
I spent several days in the hospital with the measels (which I caught from another child in my class who wasn't vaccinated), and my brother got very sick with the mumps. Both episodes were extremely unpleasant, and in my case very nearly life threatening. When my sister unexpectedly got pregnant, she realized that, having never been vaccinated, she was at risk of getting rubella, which can cause birth defects if contracted during pregnancy. She held her breath throughout the pregnancy. My husband and I are now thinking about getting pregnant, so my doctor says that I should think about going through the whole course of vaccines. Not something I'm looking forward to.
Vaccinating your kid is a risk, since we know that occasionally – very rarely – a child is legitimately harmed by the treatment. But kids are occasionally harmed by tainted meat and the monkey bars. It's terrible, but it doesn't mean that we should all stop feeding our kids meat or letting them play on the jungle gym.
(Photo: A child cries while receiving a measles vaccination injection at a vaccination site on September 11, 2010 in Changchun, China. A measles vaccination plan, mainly targeting children in the age bracket from eight months to four years, was carried out for nearly 100 million children across China from September 11 to 20. By ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)
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