I’m hearing/reading a lot about spacing out infant vaccines rather than getting multiple shots in one doctor’s visit — is this in fact better for them in the long run? Are there benefits to doing this?
—Caroline
Rates of routine childhood vaccinations have taken a hit in the past several years. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, discredited research about the links between the vaccine and autism had affected measles vaccination rates. As the illnesses that vaccines protect against have become rarer (because of vaccines!), people have had less reason to think vaccines are important. The pandemic seemed to further impact vaccination rates, both because many parents skipped early doctor’s appointments and because concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine impacted parental perceptions of older vaccines.
This is all very unfortunate, because high vaccination rates are how we keep these diseases at bay, as we’ve seen recently with the resurgence of measles and whooping cough.
It is also unfortunate because we have many decades of experience with these routine childhood vaccinations that show they are safe. The standard approach is to give a number of them at once, which, again, has been happening for a long time. There is a lot of monitoring of these vaccines, and there is just no reason to worry about the standard vaccine schedule.
However: people do worry about it. And in some cases, doctors will offer a modified vaccine schedule because they think this will get some vaccine-reluctant individuals to choose to vaccinate. There isn’t much downside to spacing out vaccines, other than that it’s inconvenient. So if it makes people feel better, that may be a win.
But we shouldn’t confuse that with it being better. It’s not better, unless the alternative is not vaccinating at all.
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There is obviously the risk of delayed protection, but there are a few other risks worth considering:
1) Doctors use vaccine schedules not only because they have been studied ad nauseum and proven to be safe and effective, but also because they provide a system that prevents mistakes. When parents ask for vaccines to be spaced differently, they are increasing the risk of their doctor inadvertently missing a vaccine, giving an unnecessary vaccine, or making a mistake in the timing between vaccines that may warrant a future or past vaccine invalid.
2) The second risk, which is more theoretical, is that the more that doctors allow themselves to be undermined by parents “whims,” the more their profession is undermined as a whole. The vaccine schedules exist because they are scientifically proven to be safe and effective by people who have dedicated their life’s work to understanding them. Why should parents be able to modify this schedule with no scientific basis for doing so?
Wow, the word “whims” is sounding incredibly judgmental in tone. Doctors are in a position of power, but is that correct? In my opinion, this position of trust (like any other one) should be earned, by the doctor being caring and compassionate towards their patient’s concerns. Not just because of a certificate or title. I don’t think a good doctor would have to worry about this at all.
Are there any studies that follow different vaccine schedules and monitor outcomes, including side effects? While very rare, they aren’t, I believe, absolutely zero, and understandably, people are looking for ways to avoid them. It would be SO useful to have actual data about this. Do vaccine uptake rates decrease on slower schedules (because of the inconvenience)? Do side effects have any variance (with any difference in schedule)?
The downside to spacing out vaccines is that it leaves your child unprotected from diseases longer than necessary, expanding the window of time in which they could contract diseases and suffer the (sometimes serious or deadly) consequences.
Precisely. I am so nervous because my baby can’t get their first measles vax until they’re 12 months. Why leave your child unprotected for longer than necessary?
I think vaccine-nervous parents like feeling they are in control by spacing out vaccines. When their child doesn’t end up with a diagnosis (e.g., autism) they can pat themselves on the back, even though we no it has no relation.
If your baby lives in or is going to a place where there is an outbreak of measles, or if you are traveling to a place with this potential, your baby CAN get the MMR vaccine between the ages of 6 and 12 months. Your baby will just have to get the MMR vaccine again after age 12 months for the immunity to last until it is time for the next booster, which we give in the US at age 4 or 5.