Questions re: not doing 18 mo DTap & Hib

[WaturMama]

I have done so much research and have a few questions I haven’t found the answers to. I don’t think I’ve mastered searching these info-rich archives yet, so if this is a repeat I apologize in advance and tips on how I could have avoided that would be appreciated.

Here’s the situation. We vaccinated our son up through the 15 month appointment, except he was born at home and we didn’t do any of the newborn vaccinations or injections (though he did have oral vitamin K). I thought I did a lot of research. I felt we were very lucky to have him be a baby at a time when the mercury was out of the vaccines, but somehow I missed the aluminum, and I am very concerned about it. Near as I can tell there is no research on how it affects babies when injected (the very best resources from the CDC and where our ped directs us are just assumptions based on studies where mice eat aluminum). Ds is past due for DTaP, Hib, and Chickenpox, for 18 months. Ds has gotten to be 19+ months, while I’ve been doing research.

We definitely aren’t doing the Chickenpox one.

I don’t think we’ll do the Hib. Near as I can tell he is almost out of the danger zone on that one anyway.

I see no reason for the diptheria vax, but pertussis is common in our area and tetanus causes some concern.

The more I research and think about it, the more I’m thinking to do none of them. Ds is breastfed and been very healthy. He had roseola, and just one bad night with it. He has had 2 maybe colds, but they were so short and easy we thought they might be seasonal allergies, which dh and I both have. And that’s it.

So my questions are:
1. Will the DTaP and Hib vax he got at 2,4, and 6 months confer any immunity now? I am most curious about the tetanus and pertussis portions.
2. Is there any good reason why tetanus is given to adults every 10 years, but given to babies 4 times in the first 2 years?
3. Is it true that at 19 months he is almost out of the danger zone with Hib, especially if he is very healthy?
4. Is there an herbal remedy that can help purge any aluminum and other toxins that might still be lingering in his body from the vax he already got?

Thanks very much for reading this and thinking about it! Answers to any or all questions will be very much appreciated.

[aisraeltax]

you will prob. get a lot of responses in teh vaccination forum instead of here.

i dont have specific answers to your questions but wanted to bump your thread.

i fear its a bit too late for me to make sense right now.

rach

[amnesiac]

1. Will the DTaP and Hib vax he got at 2,4, and 6 months confer any immunity now? I am most curious about the tetanus and pertussis portions.

Maybe some.


2. Is there any good reason why tetanus is given to adults every 10 years, but given to babies 4 times in the first 2 years?

There's a difference between priming doses & booster doses.
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/pink/prinvac.pdf (p 6)

3. Is it true that at 19 months he is almost out of the danger zone with Hib, especially if he is very healthy?

www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/pink/hib.pdf

[WaturMama]

Thanks very much for the info amnesiac.

And thanks for the idea about the other board, Rach. I considered posting on the Vaccinations board but decided to post here because this seems more like "my tribe." I feel nervous about being judged and ranted at for my previous decisions on that board. But ultimately I can handle that and if it gets me the info I need I can post there. I think I'll wait another day here and see what happens. I don't think it is inappropriate here, since it basically is a selective vaccination question--but of course that is open to interpretation.

[Dido]

Re: the aluminum issue. Since it sounds like you've already done a lot of research, you've probably already seen this article on vaccine additives, but just in case:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.or.../112/6/1394#T3

One of the authors is Paul Offit, who is distrusted (and rightly so) by most members of the vax forum for conflicts of interest, but it is a peer-reviewed article and perhaps worth a look. You could also look at the articles cited at the bottom to follow up. I felt less skeeved by the tiny amount of aluminum in vaccines when I realized that DD already gets a regular diet of aluminum in breastmilk, food, water, and so forth. Not that I'm thrilled by that, but it puts it in perspective.

[mamakay]

I checked the reference study, and it's this:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract

Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis 95616.

Aluminum (Al) as aluminum lactate in a purified diet was fed to adult female Swiss-Webster mice over a six week period. Comparison groups were: controls (CON), 25 micrograms Al/g diet; low Al (LO), 500 micrograms Al/g diet; high Al (HI), 1000 micrograms Al/g diet; and pair fed (PF) 25 micrograms Al/g diet pair fed to HI group. Weights, food intake and toxic signs were recorded at 3-day intervals and activity levels were measured during a 24-hr session during week 5 using an automated apparatus. Food intake was not reduced overall in Al-treated groups but they demonstrated a cyclic pattern of food intake. Mean weight gain over the 6-week period in the HI (0.5 g) and PF(0.1 g) groups was somewhat less than that in the CON (2.3 g) and LO (2.0 g) groups. No neurotoxic signs were recorded in any group, but a dose dependent increase in localized fur loss was seen. Overall activity level was 20% lower in HI than CON groups, with vertical movement more affected than horizontal movement. HI mice were less active during the diurnal period of peak activity than CON mice and their activity periods were also somewhat shorter (130 vs. 200 min). Activity of LO and PF mice did not differ significantly from controls, although PF activity levels were more variable. These data demonstrate that short term feeding of aluminum at levels within an order of magnitude of estimated human intake can influence neurobehavioral function as indexed by motor activity.

For some reason that doesn't really make me feel any better.
Also, here:
http://www.nomercury.org/science/doc...op_5-11-00.pdf
Is an FDA meeting on aluminum adjuvants.
And in it they say aluminum adjuvants may increase antigen specific and total IgE antibodies. Which would be bad.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IgE

Also, they say the maximun intake of .85 milligrams established by the Code of Federal Regulations (that has generally been what vax approval has looked at) is based on research no one can find any longer.