Vaccinations

I have an AWESOME recommendation for parents who are looking for information about vaccines. The Dr. Sears's Vaccine book is so so so good. I know that some of Dr. Sear's stuff takes a more touchy-feeling approach to parenting but this book is nothing like that. He actually encourages vaccinations but realizes that some parents are concerned about the current vaccination schedule and combined vaccines so he has a TON of information in there and even a recommended delayed immunization schedule in it.

I want to preface all of this to say that I believe in vaccination and that it is important to our community as a whole and on a personal level. I am vaccinating my child and I think that nationwide vaccinations both eliminates diseases and protects our country as a whole from very bad illnesses.

Nathan and I had some concerns about the quantity of vaccinations given at a time before Samuel's first series and when we got to the pediatrician for this 2mo visit we found out that he was going to be vaccinated for 9 diseases all at once! We just thought that was an awful lot for a 2mo! (Pediarix shot contains DTaP (3 illneses), HepB, Polio; Prevnar shot contains two types of pneumonia, HIB shot, Rotovirus is oral). We did have them do some vaccines that day but not every one. We schedule extra nurse-visits (which we don't have to pay a co-pay for) to stay relatively on track with his vaccines though we waited a little while on the DTaP vaccine because my brother had a horrible reaction to it (the older harsher formulation). After next month, Samuel will have received all his doses for all his vaccinations (including DTaP) for his age! Our four insurance changes lately also affected the schedule so everything together kinda messed up his schedule a bit.

Is it safe to do that? Well, since Samuel was fed breastmilk for almost a year (two years is better for vaccination protection) and he is not in a daycare or even a large church nursery, we actually are taking his vaccines as separate shots (no combinations), spreading them out, and he only gets a maximum of two shots per visit. It's working really well for us but I doubt we'd do this if I weren't a SAHM (stay at home mom) with him because it is a lot of work to get to all the appointments. On the plus side, I usually get to weigh him on the nurses visits so that is neat!! Parents love seeing how much their kids grow!

So, back to the book: In fact, in a nice concise format, he explains what the disease is, generic and scientific names for the disease and vaccine, when the vaccines for a particular disease started, age range vaccine must be given during, statistics on disease transmission since vaccinations started, how the original vaccines were developed, any interesting historical contexts for the disease, current manufacturers, likelihood of catching the disease from the virus itself or from others who have gotten the vaccine, references to scientific articles surrounding controversies, what is in the current vaccines and the amounts of those substances, references to if it is part of a combined vaccine and potential controversies that surround that vaccine as well as his opinion as a medical doctor about it.

I think my favorite part was his explanation for infant vaccination as a whole are a patriotic issue meant to eliminate deadly/difficult diseases in America!

He also points out that combined vaccinations on early schedule actually helps the population at large because low-income parents tend to avoid taking their kids in just to get a vaccination so doing those vaccinations at scheduled well-baby visits in a minimal number of shots was cheaper and easier to ensure vaccinations.

Here are some interesting things I learned:
-Some vaccines contain tiny quantities WEIRD stuff including cow's blood and formaldehyde and monkey kidney cells!
-The debate of mercury is a non-concern for parents of babies born after 2002 because no infant vaccines these days contain mercury with the exception of some of the flu vaccines.
-Vaccines contain aluminum in relatively high quantities.
-The majority of vaccines are not live viruses and some have been altered but the MMR vaccine which is one of the most controversial vaccine does contain live viruses.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to any parents doing any schedule of vaccination! Last but not least, I'll post the delayed recommended schedule. This schedule contains only one aluminum vaccine at a time, only two vaccine shots per visit, starts with the most important ones to infants and delays the relatively milder illness vaccinations until later and delays vaccines for diseases that babies are unlikely to catch in the first year by a little, and the MMR live virus is split up (this is possible now):

Copywrite on the book was 2007:
2mo: DTaP, Rotavirus
3mo: Pc, HIB
4mo: DTaP, Rotavirus
5mo: Pc, HIB
6mo: DTaP, Rotavirus
7mo: Pc, HIB
9mo: Polio
12mo: Mumps, Polio
15mo: Pc, HIB
18mo: DTaP, Chickenpox
2y: Rubella, Polio
2y6mo: HepB, HepA
3y: HepB, Measles
3y6mo: HepB, HepA
4yr: DTaP, Polio, Flu
Then, boosters and such....

Flu shots too every year. He's hoping the meningicoccal vaccine will be approved for age 2 and will move that one there and delay HepB by 6mo.

Here is the immunization schedule the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends.

Hope it helps others!!