US: Number of kids' vaccinations soars

[Guest guest]

Oh dear.....I'm cringing at this one.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060920/NEWS

01/609200395/1002/NEWS

Number of kids' vaccinations soars

Parents told more's better, but some have doubts

Stanforth

Staff writer

(September 20, 2006) — At Clinton Family Health Center in northeast

Rochester, Xiomara was recently doing something she's done many

times before — getting her kids shots.

On this day, her 15-month-old, Iyelipse, was getting a

measles-mumps-rubella-chickenpox vaccine. Nurse Aurea instructed

on how to hold Iyelipse down as Rose gently plunged the needle

into the toddler's right upper thigh. Iyelipse cried, but for only about 30

seconds.

has tried to keep track of when Iyelipse and her two sons need

shots by marking on the calendar what months vaccines are typically given —

for example at 2, 4 and 6 months old for babies. It's recommended that

toddlers need roughly 22 doses of eight vaccines by the time they're 18

months old.

" It's hard to keep track, " said , 22, of Rochester.

It will be even harder for parents to keep up with the vaccination schedule

as their children age now that five more vaccines have been added to the

list of routine immunizations since 2005. The federal government and

American Academy of Pediatrics now recommend babies get three doses of an

oral rotavirus vaccine, that 4- to 6-year-olds get a chickenpox booster, and

that 11- to 12-year-olds get a whooping cough booster, meningitis vaccine,

and for girls a series of three human papillomavirus shots.

That means by the time a person is 18 years old, he or she could have had

around 31 doses of 10 vaccines administered — and that doesn't include other

vaccines that also are recommended but some view as optional, such as

hepatitis A at age 1 or influenza vaccine up to age 5.

So some parents might wonder — is there a point when a person can get too

much vaccine? Can it be harmful?

The short answer from doctors is " no. "

The immune response the body musters for a vaccine is minuscule, they say,

compared with the daily onslaught of microbes the body faces. Also, doctors

say vaccination is key to one day wiping out common illnesses, such as

hepatitis B and chickenpox.

" For years chickenpox was normal, " said Dr. Sharon Humiston, a pediatrician

at Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong and author of the book Vaccinating

Your Child: Questions and Answers for the Concerned Parent.

But, she added, " if we can make it so the younger generation doesn't get

shingles (the resurgence of chickenpox in the elderly), what a step up that

would be. "

Vaccine makeup

One might think that the polio vaccine in 1955 was one of the first times a

substance was found that protects us against deadly disease. But vaccines

for both diphtheria and tetanus, diseases caused by bacterial infections,

were discovered in the 1920s. Diphtheria, a respiratory infection that can

destroy heart, kidney and breathing functions, was common in up to 200,000

people a year around the time the vaccine was discovered. Tetanus, a wound

infection that can cause severe muscle spasms, struck about 1,500 people a

year.

Diphtheria is now all but eradicated in the United States, and about 30 to

40 people a year contract tetanus.

Those vaccines, which were combined in the 1940s with whooping cough

vaccine, are made by growing the bacteria and then adding a chemical to

inactivate the toxin the bacteria generates. Other vaccines are made

differently.

For example, vaccines that protect against different forms of meningitis

(such as the pneumococcal and meningococcal vaccines) only use the sugar

coating on the bacteria to generate an immune response. Measles, mumps,

rubella and chickenpox vaccines use weakened versions of the live viruses;

as a result, those shots require fewer doses than others.

Various groups have protested for decades that vaccines might cause health

problems — the most common concern in recent years being that increasing

vaccine use is responsible for the rise in autism rates.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no

conclusive evidence linking developmental problems and vaccines. But in

1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics asked companies as a precautionary

measure to stop making vaccines with thimerosal, a preservative that

contained a type of mercury.

Today, only the influenza vaccine has more than trace amounts of thimerosal.

But companies are beginning to make preservative-free flu vaccine, which is

becoming popular.

Parents who do not vaccinate their children (and therefore have to home

school them because of state immunization requirements) still exist, but

their numbers seem smaller, said Dr. , a pediatrician at Goodman

Pediatrics in Irondequoit.

On average, about 83.5 percent of children in Monroe County are immunized,

compared with 81 percent nationwide. Immunization numbers increase further

as children reach school age.

" I don't know if it's the Internet that's provided more information, but

parents are comfortable with the information we're presenting " about

vaccines, said.

Too much vaccine?

Parma resident Steltz, 37, mother of five, said she believes

immunization is very important. But she has concerns that babies and

toddlers might get too much vaccine at the same time. For example,

2-month-olds are scheduled to receive around four doses of vaccines at once.

Steltz has routinely taken her five girls, ages 10 months to 9 years old,

back to the doctor after some weeks have passed to finish their rounds of

shots.

" The physicians tell me you don't have to worry, you're not overtaxing

them, " she said. But " as a mom I think it could be too much. "

While researchers check to ensure that vaccines are still effective and safe

if given together, medical experts say a limit likely exists to how many

vaccines the human body can withstand.

" There are viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi that our immune system is

responding to all the time, " said Dr. Long, chief of infectious

diseases at St. 's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. " When

you put it in needles you think about it as 'a lot' and 'too many for the

immune system.' But it's not even the chief business of the day " for the

immune system. "

In some cases, vaccines have proved no match for bacteria. A sixth dose of

pertussis, or whooping cough, vaccine was added to the recommended childhood

vaccination schedule last year in response to levels of whooping cough that

haven't been seen in the United States since 1959.

About nine people per 100,000 now get whooping cough per year — compared

with about one person in 100,000 in 1974.

Doctors predict there will be even more vaccines available in the coming

years, everything from a vaccine that protects against croup (an illness

that produces a barking cough in young children), to one that might even

prevent HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. More shots will likely be combined

as well, which will cut down on the pain and anxiety experienced not only by

children, but also by their parents.

" It's very important, " said ez, 43, mother of 11-year-old

, who recently got the new whooping cough booster in a

visit to the pediatric practice at Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong.

" With a lot of disease going on in this world, you never know. "

LSTANFOR@...