What is the Vax Status of Your Children? - Page 2

[Turquesa]

Dakotacakes, I would say that vaxxing with 1-2 deviations does describe your choice accurately. Delaying the varicella vaccine due to shedding concerns is indeed a concern about the effects of a vaccine.

It may not be an appropriate place to ask in my own thread, but unless I'm missing something, foregoing a newborn Hep B vaccine dose for the 2-month mark does seem a little arbitrary. If you feel your two-month-old in danger of getting Hep B but not your 1-day-old baby, why isn't your 1-month-old in danger? Your 2-week-old? I realize that it's probably more convenient and affordable to wait until that 2-month doctor visit. So what do you do in the meantime to protect your baby from Hep B? How seriously do you take the possibility of your baby getting Hep B during this interim?

The American Academy of Pediatrics decries ANY delays in the Schedule, claiming that they put children in greater danger of getting vaccine-avoidable diseases. Do you agree with this assessment re: Hep B vaccination? If this veers too far off, I can start a new thread...

[Turquesa]

Originally Posted by glassesgirlnj 

I voted on schedule.
Will there be a separate poll for caregivers? (Or maybe there was one already, and I'm a space cadet and I missed it?)

Start one!

Just start a thread, then scroll down to fill out the info needed for a poll.

[MichelleZB]

We're doing the schedule here in Canada. As a matter of interest, that means that my son will get Hep B as an adolescent like most kids in this country.

[Rrrrrachel]

I also skip hep b at birth because it can cause drowsiness and interfere with breastfeeding. By two months breastfeeding is established. Getting it then is somewhat arbitrary, sure, and mostly a matter of convenience. For reasons I've stated before I don't discount the risk of hep b for infants and children, but I also don't think the risk is so great that waiting until two months to start is a huge deal. After all, extra trips to the doctors office with an infant have risks, too.

[Dakotacakes]

Originally Posted by Turquesa 

Dakotacakes, I would say that vaxxing with 1-2 deviations does describe your choice accurately. Delaying the varicella vaccine due to shedding concerns is indeed a concern about the effects of a vaccine.

It may not be an appropriate place to ask in my own thread, but unless I'm missing something, foregoing a newborn Hep B vaccine dose for the 2-month mark does seem a little arbitrary. If you feel your two-month-old in danger of getting Hep B but not your 1-day-old baby, why isn't your 1-month-old in danger? Your 2-week-old? I realize that it's probably more convenient and affordable to wait until that 2-month doctor visit. So what do you do in the meantime to protect your baby from Hep B? How seriously do you take the possibility of your baby getting Hep B during this interim?

The American Academy of Pediatrics decries ANY delays in the Schedule, claiming that they put children in greater danger of getting vaccine-avoidable diseases. Do you agree with this assessment re: Hep B vaccination? If this veers too far off, I can start a new thread...

I disagree that it is a concern about the effects of the vaccine.  it was just easier for us to get both the little ones the vaccine at the same time. My next child will have it at the 12 month appointment as the schedule implies.  Actually the copy of the schedule I have from his Ped actually has a range of 12 months-24months for varicella.  So actually I guess I was on schedule and just didn't realize it since it is customary to get it at the 12 month WBV.

As for Hep B, I am not concerned that they are in danger until they are able to be independently mobile and are outside of my house in locations which put them at risk.  At 1 day old the baby is not at risk because it is in the hospital.  At 1 month old my child had had had the vaccine but you need 3 doses so wasn't protected and wasn't at danger because not mobile and stays where I place him.  At 2- weeks old again the child is not mobile.  What I do to protect my child in the interim is that I don't hand them objects that may be contaminated and I place them in the infant seat or bassinet that I have in locations I am unfamiliar.  However, when they get to crawling reaching and being independently mobile, that is when the risk begins to show up for us.  By the time that happens (around 6-9 months) I want my child to have the Hep B Series.

As far as the AAP I don't think they would say waiting until the 2 month appointment for Hep B series introduction is putting my child at great danger of vaccine preventable disease.  I think that is a hyperbolic accounting of their stance (which IS That all children should be vaccinated for VPDs).  I agree with the AAP stance on VPDS and vaccination.

My reason for not having it in the hospital this time was his birth was traumatic and I didn't want him taken from me.  Breastfeeding was frankly the only thing that went correctly and it was healing for me to continue to do so without having him taken for the vaccine.  So I waited until his first appointment. 

[Turquesa]

Dakotacakes, what you wrote in your post is directly related to your delaying the vaccine due to concerns about a direct effect from it. Namely, it sheds and can transmit to another individual.

I waited until 18 months for varicella because he was in care with an infant who was too young for vaccinations and I didn't want to risk shedding transmission with that vaccine.

But I suppose that whether you selected the first or second poll answer is getting hair-splitting. 

Here is what the AAP has to say about delaying vaccinations. They make no exception for Hep B. 

http://www.immunize.org/aap/fisher.pdf

Why not spread out the schedule?

Spreading out the schedule would leave a child unprotected.

   And... 

Parents who are considering delaying their child’s immunizations

need to be made aware that they are putting their child at risk.

If anybody is being hyperbolic, I'd say it's the AAP. I'd love to see them say, "Delaying vaccines is extremely dangerous.  Except for Hep B.  Go ahead and wait a couple of months, if you'd prefer."  But that would be too much gray for people in the black-and-white business. 

I probably shouldn't have even broached this issue.  I just find it strange that those of us who question the Gospel-Schedule on a larger scale are vilified.  But even people who claim to follow it may modify it here and there.

Edited by Turquesa - 2/9/13 at 4:14pm

[Dakotacakes]

The aap gives ranges not exact dates. The range for the first hep b is birth to 1 month. The range for varicella is 12-18 months. So I guess the point is moot since I followed the aap schedule without deviation.

[Rrrrrachel]

I don't think anyone here takes the schedule as gospel. That's a straw man that seems to keep popping up.

[prosciencemum]

Originally Posted by Rrrrrachel 

I don't think anyone here takes the schedule as gospel. That's a straw man that seems to keep popping up.

As soon as you notice different countries have different schedules you realise there is some open debate about what's best to do anyway - and/or that it can change depending on circumstances.

[Turquesa]

Originally Posted by Dakotacakes 

The aap gives ranges not exact dates. The range for the first hep b is birth to 1 month. The range for varicella is 12-18 months. So I guess the point is moot since I followed the aap schedule without deviation.

Oh, they give a range, all right...between when your baby is born and when you leave the hospital.

http://www2.aap.org/immunization/illnesses/hepb/hepb.html

Although just so we're clear, in the US it's the ACIP/ CDC that fixes the schedule and the AAP that cheerleads it on.

Honestly, I really don't see the big deal in fessing up to a deviation or two. The secret of your heresy is safe with me. If it's any consolation, wait until you hear of my own transgressions

Bless me, doctor, for I have sinned. It has been 5 years since I last vaccinated one of my children for hep b without any genuine informed consent...

[Turquesa]

Originally Posted by Rrrrrachel 

I don't think anyone here takes the schedule as gospel. That's a straw man that seems to keep popping up.

Maybe we have a different view on what constitutes a vaccine schedule "gospel." But if you do a search on "delayed immunization dangerous" you'll see a lot of rigidity.

[Rrrrrachel]

I'm sure it exists, but you seem to be implying there's some hypocrisy going on for actual posters here.

[Rrrrrachel]

I'm sure it exists, I'm talking about amongst routine posters here.

[Turquesa]

The "gospel" purveyors are the AAP, CDC, and other vax apologists. I see inconsistencies but I don't think anyone here is being hypocritical.

[rachelsmama]

Originally Posted by Turquesa 


Bless me, doctor, for I have sinned. It has been 5 years since I last vaccinated one of my children for hep b without any genuine informed consent...

I LOVE this!

[Rrrrrachel]

I think you see inconsistencies because you're assigning people positions and opinions they don't actually hold.

[emma1325]

My 2 youngest are vaccine free.  My oldest did receive hep b at birth and the first two sets of infant shots.

[Turquesa]

Rrrrrachel, it's inconsistent to say you vax on schedule and then not vax on schedule. I'm not taking any guesses on what positions people hold.

I agree with PSM; the US schedule cannot possibly be infallible if other countries are doing things differently.

Emma1325, I think a lot of parents share your experience. We did the birth Heb B, then read the VIS about it, then thought WTH, then quit vaxxing altogether for awhile to learn more. (I realize that for some parents the revelation is more severe, ie a vaccine reaction). If the 1970s-1980s schedule had still been in place, I think I would have just vaxxed without any doubts or questions. When I became a first-time mom, the new vax schedule kind of blind-sided me. One interesting positive correlation in the US has been the rate of exemptions filed with the addition of new vaccine mandates.

[prosciencemum]

Originally Posted by Turquesa 


I agree with PSM; the US schedule cannot possibly be infallible if other countries are doing things differently.

I guess one clarification - I meant that their is no "best" schedule for everyone the world over, but I do think that averaged over the whole population health groups in different countries work hard to come up with the best schedule for their country. I can't imagine you'd find anyone who would say the schedule is infallible, but I would give the benefit of the doubt and suggest it's the best choice based on the available evidence. What more can they do? 

 So the biggest difference between the US (which recommends HepB at birth) and UK/Canada which do this only for babies with HepB+ mothers is the availability of free health care for all. I could theorize that the babies in the US most likely to be at risk from HepB are exactly those who are least likely to have good health care access. So perhaps HepB at birth is recommended for all in order to catch those babies who are least likely to be brought back in for well baby checks...

[Rrrrrachel]

Originally Posted by Turquesa 

Rrrrrachel, it's inconsistent to say you vax on schedule and then not vax on schedule. I'm not taking any guesses on what positions people hold.

I agree with PSM; the US schedule cannot possibly be infallible if other countries are doing things differently.

Emma1325, I think a lot of parents share your experience. We did the birth Heb B, then read the VIS about it, then thought WTH, then quit vaxxing altogether for awhile to learn more. (I realize that for some parents the revelation is more severe, ie a vaccine reaction). If the 1970s-1980s schedule had still been in place, I think I would have just vaxxed without any doubts or questions. When I became a first-time mom, the new vax schedule kind of blind-sided me. One interesting positive correlation in the US has been the rate of exemptions filed with the addition of new vaccine mandates.

Because you're taking a very dogmatic and strict approach to interpreting on schedule. I consider my daughter to be vaccinated on schedule even though we delayed the first doses of both hep b and hep a. We even occasionally don't make it in for a well baby visit until a month or two after we should've! Shocking!