Aug 29 2009
One Little, Two Little, Three Little,… WAIT… 36???
In both Canada and the United States there are Oganizations for Immunization Practices that decide which vaccines should be on the Childhood Immunization Schedule. One vaccine, against hepatitis B, is to be given on the day of birth; seven vaccines at two months; 6 more (including booster shots) at four months; and as many as eight vaccines on the six-month well-baby visit. Before a child reaches the age of two, he or she will have received 32 vaccinations on this schedule, including four doses each of vaccines for Hemophilus influenzae type b infections, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis — all of them given during the first 12 months of life. Seven vaccines injected into a 13-pound, two-month old infant are equivalent to 70 doses in a 130-pound adult. We are told, “Your child can safely receive all vaccines recommended for a particular age during one visit.” Public health officials, however, have not proven that it is indeed safe to inject this many vaccines into infants. What’s more, they cannot explain why, concurrent with an increasing number of vaccinations, there has been an explosion of neurologic and immune system disorders in our nation’s children. Fifty years ago, when the immunization schedule contained only four vaccines (for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and smallpox), autism was virtually unknown.
