During the first six months of a baby's life, she may be poked with over 20 needles full of microorganisms that her body must fight off. While most pediatricians and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend vaccinations for infants, the topic is controversial in some corners. Many parents and medical professionals are attributing diseases such as autism and juvenile diabetes to the shots.
What is a Vaccination?
According to KidsHealth.org, a vaccination is a method of creating immunity to a disease by using small amounts of a killed or weakened microorganism that causes the particular disease. In other words, a small amount of the virus is administered to the body in order to stimulate the body to attack the microorganism and react as if it were a real infection. The organism is no longer foreign. The body remembers it so that it is able to fight it off quickly if it should ever enter the body again.
Common Vaccinations for Infants
Your baby is born with antibodies that have been passed on to him through the placenta, but the protection they provide is only temporary. The American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, recommends six immunizations between birth and 6 months that will protect the child from eight serious diseases. The six routine infant vaccines are DTab--Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis; Hepatitus B; Polio; Hib--Haemophilus influenzae type b;, Pneumococcal; and Rotavirus. All of them are administered in two to four doses over a period of several months.
Side Effects
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, the side effects associated with vaccines are mild. Most are local reactions including tenderness, redness or swelling in the area where the shot is administered. More serious reactions are associated with allergies to a substance in a vaccine, but the CDC contends that these reactions are rare and happen less than once in a million shots. Other symptoms that may be associated with these vaccines are fussiness, drowsiness or loss of appetite.
Speculated Long Term Effects
There has been speculation that infant vaccines can cause more serious long term problems in children, such as chronic illness, immune suppression and neurological complications. In fact, a 2010 study by Laura Hewitson and colleagues published in "Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis," a peer-reviewed quarterly journal of scientific studies, revealed that vaccinations had an adverse effect on infant monkeys. The exposed monkeys did not mature and develop at the same rate as monkeys who were not exposed. However, there isn't enough empirical evidence to support this. In addition, J. Barthelow Classen, M.D., a former researcher at the National Institutes of Health and the founder and CEO of Classen Immunotherapies, Inc. published a study in the May 24, 1996 "New Zealand Medical Journal" that links vaccinations to the growing number of juvenile diabetes cases. Again, there is not enough evidence to prove these arguments. The CDC still contends that there are no long term health risks to infant vaccinations.
Trends
Despite the fact that these dangers have not been proven, there is a growing trend of parents opting against vaccinations for their children. According to CNN.com, several parents are delaying the Hepatitis B shot, saying it is unnecessary at this point in the child's life. "I don't know babies who have sex or share needles," says Dr. David Traver, a pediatrician of Foster City, California. Other parents are requesting a blood test to check the amount of antibodies in their baby before deciding on immunization. Another trend is spreading out the doses over a longer period of time so they are not pumping the child with many different microorganisms all at once. Lastly, some parents are choosing not to give the vaccinations altogether. So, while there is not enough evidence to prove these so-called dangers of infant vaccinations, there is enough literature to make new parents question it and possibly alter or abstain from immunization.
