In the News: Alternative Vaccine Schedules

As I’ve admitted, my husband and I use alternative vaccine schedules with our two children. So a recent study published in Pediatrics, the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, definitely caught my eye.“Alternative Vaccination Schedule Preferences Among Parents of Young Children” includes survey results, details “national patterns of alternative vaccination schedule use, and the potential ‘malleability’ of parents’ current vaccination schedule choices.”To briefly summarize, Dr. Amanda F. Dempsey and five other medical professionals in the Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit at the University of Michigan’s Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases found that parents are more likely to delay the vaccination schedule recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because of safety concerns, questions over the necessity and benefits of the traditional schedule, and “distrust of the motivation of vaccine advocates.”

The study showed that almost one out of ten parents use a vaccination schedule other than what’s recommended by the CDC.

Details about the parents who chose to delay
Out of the parents surveyed – in online surveys – only 13 percent use an alternative schedule. (Only 2 percent of parents polled refused all vaccines.) According to the study, most parents either refused specific vaccines completely or delayed certain vaccines until children were older.

One disturbing trend identified in the study is the kind of alternative schedules parents use:

“Among the alternatively vaccinating parents, only 8 percent reported using a well-known alternative schedule, such as those promoted by Dr. William Sears (6 percent of alternative vaccinators) and Dr. Donald Miller (2 percent). Instead, it was more common for alternative vaccinators to indicate that they themselves (41 percent) or a friend (15 percent) had developed the schedule. Among the 36 percent of respondents who endorsed the ‘other’ response to this query, several indicated in the free-text section that they had ‘worked with their child’s physician’ to develop the alternative schedule.”

This is only my opinion, but there is no way I would create an alternative vaccine schedule for my children and be confident in the outcome. I do follow the Dr. Sears schedule – fortunately my children’s pediatrician recommends the Sears schedule, too.

While my physician advocates an alternative schedule, not every pediatrician does. Eight percent of parents found new doctors to support an alternative vaccination schedule, 30 percent of parents thought their physicians hesitated while changing the schedule, 40 percent of parents thought their doctors supported the vaccination decisions, and 22 percent of parents had an alternative schedule recommended by their doctors.

What’s delayed?
A vast majority of parents who choose an alternative vaccination schedule refuse the flu vaccine – 86 percent refused the H1N1 vaccine and 76 percent refused the influenza vaccine.

Other commonly delayed vaccines include the varicella vaccine (delayed by 46 percent of parents) and the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (delayed by 26 percent of parents).

Why delay?
Most parents who choose to delay believe an alternative schedule is safer and children may experience fewer adverse effects. These parents also believe that alternative schedules do not cause an increase in contracting and spreading the diseases.

As a parent who chooses an alternative vaccine schedule, I completely agree with these opinions. I’ve researched vaccines until I finally understood why they’re needed – yet based on my children’s reactions, I know an alternative schedule is best for them. When they have received full, regularly scheduled rounds of vaccines, they develop extreme reactions – and this just doesn’t happen when their vaccines are spaced out with a delayed schedule. I appreciate that my children get all of their shots, yet aren’t adversely affected. (And while some in the media like to hypothesize that parents are concerned about vaccines and autism, I know that’s just a rumor that’s proven to be false.)

Bottom line
The underlying theme behind alternative schedules is trust – and mistrust. Quite frankly, not all parents trust the CDC’s push for a full vaccine schedule. (And shoot! When you learn about vaccines and their animal origins,unlikely but possible mad cow disease and avian flu potential and the entire aborted fetus cell line debate, can a parent fully trust the manufacturing process?)

The Pediatrics study showed that one out of three parents choosing alternative schedules initially followed the CDC schedule, then switched to an alternative one. (That’s me! I did the same thing twice.)

As for parents who follow the CDC schedule, only one out of four parents believes that the CDC schedule is the best to follow. And one out of five parents who follow the CDC vaccine schedule believe that delaying vaccines is safer than using the recommended schedule.

Talk back
How about you? Do you trust or mistrust the CDC’s recommended vaccine schedule? Do you use a full or alternative vaccine schedule with your children? Why have you made your vaccine scheduling choice?

Source

“Alternative Vaccination Schedule Preferences Among Parents of Young Children.” Dr Amanda F. Dempsey, et al. Pediatrics. Oct. 3, 2011.