Babies get a lot of vaccines before they turn 2. Is it safe to spread them out instead?
No parent of a new baby likes to take their little one to get shots at the doctor's office.
Babies are supposed to receive vaccines that protect against about 15 different infectious diseases. Most require more than one dose, which amounts to nearly 30 jabs by age two.
Parents may be tempted to delay or spread out those shots but multiple health experts told USA TODAY that they wouldn’t recommend veering away from the recommended childhood vaccination schedule.
“The vaccination schedule is laid out in a way to protect folks to the things they’re most vulnerable to at whatever stage they may be in,” said Dr. Kisha Davis, chief health officer for Montgomery County, Maryland, and board member of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “There’s really strong science and evidence both from the research and also from decades and generations of giving vaccines.”
Why you shouldn’t spread out vaccines
The main purpose of vaccines is to protect babies because they have naïve immune systems and are vulnerable to infection and severe disease, said Dr. Ofer Levy, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist and director of the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.
“Every day that passes that you delay immunization is a day you are needlessly putting that child at risk,” he said.
Many childhood vaccines result in immunity that lasts for decades so it’s important to ensure that protection upfront early in life, Davis said.
It’s also more convenient for parents to get their babies vaccinated according to the recommended schedule, said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
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Spreading out vaccines could easily lead to more visits to the doctor and more shots to achieve optimal protection, he said. Life may also get in the way and parents risk further delaying the additional doctor’s appointments or skipping them altogether.
Family doctors and pediatricians saw this happen during the COVID-19 pandemic when non-urgent wellness visits were delayed or canceled due to widespread lockdowns.
Research shows those delays from the pandemic have had lasting effects. Childhood vaccination rates remain lower among children born in 2020 and 2021 than those born in 2018 and 2019, except for vaccines given at birth, according to a September study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
“A vaccine deferred is sometimes a vaccine never received,” Schaffner said.
No, vaccines don't overload a baby's immune system
Some parents worry the number of shots given to infants and toddlers will overwhelm their little bodies, Schaffner said. How can their “delicate” immune system respond to all those vaccines?
“It’s remarkable but it can,” he said.
The concern gained renewed attention when a video leaked last summer showed President-elect Donald Trump questioning childhood vaccinations in a phone conversation with his nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
“When you feed a baby, Bobby, a vaccination that is like 38 different vaccines, and it looks like it’s meant for a horse, not a, you know, 10-pound or 20-pound baby,” Trump said, suggesting later that babies can “change radically.”
But a dozen vaccines are nothing compared to the myriad of viruses, bacteria and other pathogens babies’ immune systems are exposed to every day, Davis said.
While childhood vaccinations may introduce about 140 microbes, she said, babies are exposed to thousands of them as they crawl on the floor, put objects in their mouth and get slobbery kisses from the pet dog.
“The evidence is strong. You’re not hurting your baby,” Davis said.
If parents are behind on childhood vaccinations, health experts told USA TODAY it’s never too late to contact their family doctor and set up a plan to catch up. But they say parents shouldn’t purposefully delay immunizations if they can help it.
“You’re playing vaccine roulette,” Schaffner said.
Adrianna Rodriguez can be reached at adrodriguez@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Babies get a lot of vaccines quickly. Is it safe to spread them out?
