Is Too Many Vaccines at Once Harmful?

One of the most popular misconceptions that parents have when it comes to vaccinating their baby is that receiving so many vaccines so soon will harm the babies immune system. An article released by Tara Haelle for Parents Magazine tackled this misconception on an overload of vaccinations. According to Haelle, "while kids now get more shots—especially since each vaccine usually requires multiple doses—they're also protected against almost twice as many diseases" (Haelle). She backs this up with the idea that in the 70's and 80's children were vaccinated against 8 diseases. A 2-year old today, however, can beat back 14 diseases. Therefor, while the amount of vaccinations in children has increased, so has the amount of diseases we can prevent. Haelle also stresses the fact that while children are receiving a larger amount of vaccines, the vaccines contain a significantly smaller amount of antigens than they used to. Antigens are the viral components of a vaccine that the immune system recognizes and builds up antibodies for. Because we are putting less antigens in vaccinations, children are being exposed to a smaller amount of the disease than they have been in the past. 

To read more, visit Tara Haelle's article here: http://www.parents.com/health/vaccines/controversy/8-reasons-parents-dont-vaccinate-and-why-they-should/