VACCINE RESOURCE COMMITTEE

of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association

View Full List of Vaccine Questions Here

General Vaccine Question #8:

Is the childhood vaccine schedule too aggressive?

 No. The schedules are developed to maximize early protection without causing harm before children
can be exposed to the diseases.

Early vaccination is important to prevent diseases. Children are given vaccines at a young age because this is when they are at highest risk of getting sick or dying if they get these diseases. Children are exposed to a number of microbes on a daily basis, and the body can handle these exposures and mount immune responses to protect itself. Similarly, multiple antigen exposures through vaccines can be given to children and adults and the bodies can mount immune responses to these too.  Studies that look at administering several vaccines together, even at the same visit, show this is safe and effective. It is not too aggressive.

Newborn babies are immune to some diseases because they have antibodies they get from their mothers, usually before they are born. However, this immunity only lasts a few months. Most babies do not get protective antibodies against diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, tetanus, hepatitis B, or Hib from their mothers. This is why it is important to vaccinate a child before they are exposed to a disease.

Multiple vaccines are given at once for children to be protected as early as possible and having several vaccines reduce the number of office visits to save parents time and money, and be less traumatic for children.

Many countries have immunization schedules where children receive multiple vaccine injections at one visit. Globally, many middle and high-income countries have been safely using multiple injections for more than a decade, while achieving high coverage and acceptability. Vaccination schedules that involve multiple injections during the same visit are based on many years of pre-licensure and post-licensure safety and effectiveness data, including concomitant use studies. Information on acceptability and safety of administering multiple injections in one visit, as well as strategies to reduce pain and distress at the time of vaccination is available here.

SOURCES

World Health Organization: Safety and acceptability of multiple injections