Today's combination vaccines are good news for kids who dislike shots because doctors and nurses can administer several immunizations - like those for measles, mumps, and rubella - in a single injection. But some parents may wonder whether exposing kids to several vaccines at once could affect children's immune systems, leaving them vulnerable to other infectious diseases. Researchers from Copenhagen, Denmark, studied whether vaccination in childhood affected a child's risk of being hospitalized for other infectious diseases.
Researchers collected vaccination records for all children born in Denmark between 1990 and 2001 and followed them for the first 5 years of life. They noted whether each child had been hospitalized for any of seven types of infections, including upper respiratory tract infection, pneumonia, blood infection, meningitis, nervous system infections, and diarrhea.
Out of the 805,206 children born between 1990 and 2001, there were 84,317 hospitalizations for infectious diseases. In general, children who received the standard childhood vaccinations - including Haemophilus influenzae type b, diptheria-tetanus-inactivated poliovirus, diptheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis-inactivated poliovirus, whole-cell pertussis, measles-mumps-rubella, and oral poliovirus - had no significantly greater risk of being hospitalized for other infectious diseases.
What This Means to You: The results of this large study support previous research into the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccines. Nearly all health experts and scientists believe that childhood vaccines are safe and effective and that the benefits of immunizing your child far outweigh any risks. Talk to your child's doctor if you have any questions about the safety or effectiveness of recommended vaccinations.
Source: Anders Hviid, MSc; Jan Wohlfahrt, MSc; Michael Stellfeld, MD; Mads Melbye, MD; Journal of the American Medical Association, August 10, 2005
Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: August 2005
