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My wife and I have given our children all the vaccines we had as children and it was an enormous struggle to do so. Children now receive many more vaccines than

by kreek 13y ago

My wife and I have given our children all the vaccines we had as children and it was an enormous struggle to do so. Children now receive many more vaccines than we did, and many of them are delivered in combination; up to four or more at a time. Autism aside there is a very real danger of a reaction when you combine so many vaccines. Others are completely unnecessary, like Hep B at birth. If the governing bodies went back to a sane vaccine schedule I think some of the refusers would come back into the fold.

grannyg00se 13y ago
So are you saying that if you only wanted to give your child the vaccines that you had received as a child, you couldn't do that without also giving them a bunch of other unwanted vaccines? Can you not vaccinate your child by your own selection and timeline?
- secstate 13y ago
  Nope. Very difficult to pick and choose vaccines. Hello, drug-resistant pertussis [1]. Wish we could leave that one out and not make things worse in the future. Also, really wish I could choose just measles and mumps and not rubella. Rubella is a non-issue for most people [2]. The other issue at hand is that drug companies make a pretty penny if everyone gets Hep B at birth "just to be safe." Motivations become difficult to pull apart and people become suspicious. Exhibit B. The chicken pox vaccine, who's addition to the vaccine cocktail at birth no doubt helps Merck's bottom line, despite the fact that one does is only effective for five years and even at the height of protection afforded, you are still likely to contract varicella, but with lessened symptoms [3]. 1: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/6/12-0091_article.htm http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/6/12-0091_article.htm 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubella#Prognosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubella#Prognosis 3: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/varicella-vaccine/pages/introduction.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/varicella-vaccine/pages/introdu...
mikeash 13y ago
Is there a real danger from combining vaccines? That's something people keep mentioning but I've yet to see any data on it. Is it actually safer to spread them out, or is that just another myth?
- christkv 13y ago
  There are some possible dangers of combined vaccines but none that I've found for any of the standard vaccines you get in your childhood. If you want to educate yourself about virology and vaccines I suggest the following podcast. This week in viruses http://www.twiv.tv/ http://www.twiv.tv/
aestra 13y ago
> there is a very real danger of a reaction when you combine so many vaccines [citation needed] I'd like to see the studies that say that combos are worse than individual. I'm not trying to be a dick, but when you make claims, you gotta back it up with data.
- fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
  I think kreek may be referring to the practice of administering several vaccines at once. If one fears additives, preservatives, or contamination then combined vaccines may be safer by potentially reducing the number of injections, and possibly the volume of preservatives.
christkv 13y ago
The vaccination program here in Spain seems fairly simple and straight forward. Vaccines at 2, 4, 6, 12, 15 and 18 months. Most of the vaccines are booster shots for the initial sets. Here they are 2 shots for each step. 1 combination vaccine and one for Meningitis. They only give the Hep B vaccine if the mother is positive for Hep B.
lemming 13y ago
Autism aside... You know that's been totally and utterly discredited, right? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy there is a very real danger of a reaction when you combine so many vaccines. Citation? Others are completely unnecessary, like Hep B at birth. Citation? Wikipedia suggests it's been very successful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_B_vaccine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_B_vaccine

by kreek 13y ago

grannyg00se 13y ago

So are you saying that if you only wanted to give your child the vaccines that you had received as a child, you couldn't do that without also giving them a bunch of other unwanted vaccines? Can you not vaccinate your child by your own selection and timeline?

secstate 13y ago
Nope. Very difficult to pick and choose vaccines. Hello, drug-resistant pertussis [1]. Wish we could leave that one out and not make things worse in the future. Also, really wish I could choose just measles and mumps and not rubella. Rubella is a non-issue for most people [2]. The other issue at hand is that drug companies make a pretty penny if everyone gets Hep B at birth "just to be safe." Motivations become difficult to pull apart and people become suspicious. Exhibit B. The chicken pox vaccine, who's addition to the vaccine cocktail at birth no doubt helps Merck's bottom line, despite the fact that one does is only effective for five years and even at the height of protection afforded, you are still likely to contract varicella, but with lessened symptoms [3]. 1: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/6/12-0091_article.htm http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/6/12-0091_article.htm 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubella#Prognosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubella#Prognosis 3: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/varicella-vaccine/pages/introduction.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/varicella-vaccine/pages/introdu...

mikeash 13y ago

Is there a real danger from combining vaccines? That's something people keep mentioning but I've yet to see any data on it. Is it actually safer to spread them out, or is that just another myth?

christkv 13y ago
There are some possible dangers of combined vaccines but none that I've found for any of the standard vaccines you get in your childhood. If you want to educate yourself about virology and vaccines I suggest the following podcast. This week in viruses http://www.twiv.tv/ http://www.twiv.tv/

aestra 13y ago

> there is a very real danger of a reaction when you combine so many vaccines [citation needed] I'd like to see the studies that say that combos are worse than individual. I'm not trying to be a dick, but when you make claims, you gotta back it up with data.

fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
I think kreek may be referring to the practice of administering several vaccines at once. If one fears additives, preservatives, or contamination then combined vaccines may be safer by potentially reducing the number of injections, and possibly the volume of preservatives.

christkv 13y ago

The vaccination program here in Spain seems fairly simple and straight forward. Vaccines at 2, 4, 6, 12, 15 and 18 months. Most of the vaccines are booster shots for the initial sets. Here they are 2 shots for each step. 1 combination vaccine and one for Meningitis. They only give the Hep B vaccine if the mother is positive for Hep B.

lemming 13y ago

Autism aside... You know that's been totally and utterly discredited, right? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy there is a very real danger of a reaction when you combine so many vaccines. Citation? Others are completely unnecessary, like Hep B at birth. Citation? Wikipedia suggests it's been very successful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_B_vaccine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_B_vaccine