The Vaccination Decision: Is There Middle Ground?
All this week we have been focusing on vaccinations…the good, the bad, and the ugly. Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to wade through the information and form your own opinion on the issue. And you may be happy to know that you don’t necessarily have to choose one side or another.
In the past, many parents felt they had to make a black or white decision when it came to vaccinations. Either vaccinate or don’t vaccinate. But there may be a middle ground that eases the fears of parents concerned about the number vaccinations given to children with the fears of parents who don’t want to see there children go unvaccinated.
The current vaccination schedule recommended by most medical professionals is set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.) According to the CDC’s vaccinate schedule, babies should receive as many as 25 immunizations by the time they are 18 months old.
What if there were a way to reduce the frequency and/or number of these vaccinations while still ensuring that your child receives the appropriate immunizations? Take a look at some of these alternatives to the traditional vaccination schedule.
The Sears Schedule: Dr. Robert Sears, a world renowned pediatrician and author of The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child, has developed an alternative vaccine schedule dubbed “The Sears Schedule” that encourages parents and health care providers to give babies all of the shots they need, but spread out over the first few years of life, instead of bunching them all up in the first 18 months. Following The Sears Schedule, babies receive fewer vaccines at a time, concentrating on the most important vaccines first, and slightly delaying the less important vaccines.
Checking “Titers:” According to the CDC schedule, children should receive “boosters” to certain vaccines, such as the chicken pox vaccine, to boost the baby’s immunity received from a previous shot. Some children, however, may have received adequate immune system protection from the first shot and therefore would not need this additional booster.
If you are concerned about the number of boosters your child is slated to receive, talk with your health care provider about performing a blood test to check a child’s titers. By “checking titers” the pediatrician can measure the amount of antibodies in your child’s blood, giving an indication of whether or not your baby is immune to the disease. If enough antibodies are present, you child will not need additional boosters for that vaccine. If you do decide to go this route, be sure to find out in advance if the “titers” test will be covered by your health insurance plan.
Split Up Combination Shots: Many parents and health care providers question the necessity of giving babies a number of shots at a time. According to the CDC schedule, your baby should receive five shots at her two month checkup and then another five at four months.
Many of these vaccinations are combined into one shot. For example, measles, mumps and rubella are put together into one injection called MMR, and diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis are put together into one shot called DTaP.
Some health experts argue that it is better for babies to spread these immunizations out over several visits. Yes, this may mean more injections for your baby. But it could also minimize her reactions to the vaccines. The MMR vaccines are available as three separate injections that could be given to your baby over the course of several weeks or months. Talk to your health care provider about the possibility of separating and spreading out these vaccines.
Photo by burnin dog
I have found that for parents that choose to delay and selectively vaccinate their children, finding a supportive pediatrician is important. I have friends who don’t choose to vaccinate their children and others who delay/selectively vax and it seems that the search for an accepting pediatrician takes time but once one is found, following an alternative schedule is met with less resistance.
My children are 5/7 and we have delayed/selectively vax’d from the start, we did have to switch pediatricians a few times but our current ped doesn’t pressure us at all.
Unfortunately, the P (pertussis) part of DTaP doesn’t come separately. DT does, but it’s for kids over 7, and contains thimerosal.
Merck is stopping the splitting of the MMR.
You can get other shots separately. Most shots are combination shots, introducing as many as five diseases at once, plus all the preservatives. Definitely learn what’s available. This site lists all of the brands, so you can choose which you want to give to your child, if any:
http://www.novaccine.com/specific-vaccines/
There is little if any evidence showing that spacing out or delaying shots has any benefit, with exception of MMR. By splitting up the MMR there is slightly less risk of side effects and better immunity to measles, mumps and rubella. However, those three diseases are also very rare in the US.
Unfortunately, all vaccines have secret ingredients that do NOT appear on the package insert. This is protected by international trade law. Vaccines contain traces of food protein from the mixed oils used in the vaccine adjuvant and mixed foods used in the culture medium. You have to read patents to find out exactly what is used. Injecting food protein into animals is one method used to create a food-allergic animal to study. Guess what! We’re animals, too. Injecting us with food protein causes food allergies in people! Food allergies are becoming a huge problem. 8% of young children have food allergies. 1 in 70 people in the UK have a serious peanut allergy. So you take your chances when you play food allergy roulette by vaccinating.
Doing a little research before getting my son vaccinated and found an article dated Oct 2009 by Dr. Sears stating that Merck has halted all production of the separate MMR components for the time being. They have not yet stated whether or not they are going restart those productions lines at some point in the future. He did mention that one option parents have is to wait until the child is older to get the full MMR (apparently at 4yrs old the vaccination is the most effective) and not to pair it with any other vaccination.