Pediatrician: Vaccinate Your Kids—Or Get Out of My Office

[3catwoman3]

10. I am relatively successful...

...calming vaccine-reluctant parents who have bought into the "too-many-too-soon-overwhelm-the immune-system" BS when I explain the following:

1. newborns are exposed to thousands of antigens in the everyday world the moment they are born, and generally handle this just fine

2. the total number of all the antigens contained all the immunizations given in the first 6 months is less than the antigens that used to be in a single smallpox vaccine.

3. 100-150 years ago, 16% of children dies before they were 5 because of devastating illness we can now protect against.

It was quite interesting, during the first "swine" flu outbreak, everyone wanted the flu shot, they didn't care if it had a preservative in it, and they were upset when we ran out. The perceived risk was great enough that people didn't obsess over fears not supported by research.

We have one family in our practice whose mom was not vaccine averse (educated as a nurse practitioner but never employed as such), but terribly afraid that either the wrong thing would be given, or a vaccine would not be prepared properly. She insisted that the immunizations be reconstituted and drawn up in front of her. Unusual, but we accommodated her request. She was very worried about pretty much everything. Imagine my surprise when, in the middle of the SARS epidemic in China, the family decided to go there so the kids could study Mandarin. WTF!