Are Doctors Sending Mixed Messages About Vaccines?
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More parents than ever are asking their pediatricians to vaccinate their children on a delayed or alternative schedule rather than stick to the one recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), according to the findings of a new study.
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“I think it’s largely due to misunderstandings and misinformation about the dangers of more vaccines at once,” lead study author Allison Kempe, professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, tells Yahoo Parenting. “Some parents believe it overwhelms a child’s system, but there is no scientific data to support that.”
For the study, published online Monday in the April 2015 issue of Pediatrics, the official journal of the AAP, pediatricians and family physicians responded to surveys in 2012 on the frequency of parental requests to spread out the recommended vaccine schedule for children under 2 years of age. “Many physicians reported tension between the need to build trust with families by being willing to compromise on the schedule while simultaneously feeling they were putting children at risk and causing them unnecessary pain by spreading out vaccines on multiple visits,” Kempe writes of the results.
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In an average month, 93 percent of respondents reported requests from parents to spread out shots, while roughly one-fifth reported that 10 percent or more of parents made such requests. The majority of providers say they agreed to the alternative-schedule either “often/always” or “sometimes,” even though the majority (87 percent) believed it would put children at risk for contracting vaccine preventable diseases. Their reasoning, they explained, was that they felt that they would build trust with families if they agreed to delay some vaccines, and that families might leave their practice if they did not agree.
While Kempe concedes that “to get some vaccinations is better than getting no vaccinations,” she says one of the questions raised by the findings is whether or not physicians who agree to alternative schedules are sending parents mixed messages. The study has also made it apparent, she says, that the various strategies used by physicians to convince parents to stick with recommended schedules are not working.
Yahoo Parenting reached out to several pediatricians around the country who promote the idea that they will work with parents to establish an alternative vaccine schedule that works for them; none, however, returned calls for comment on the latest survey. But oft-controversial California pediatrician Dr. Robert Sears, author of “The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child,” did speak to Yahoo Parenting, via email, about the two alternative schedules he outlines in his book. A 2009 AAP article co-written by Dr. Paula Offit, the co-inventer and co-patent holder for the RotaTeq rotavirus vaccine, called his proposed alternatives problematic for several reasons — including decreasing immunization rates, increased office visits, and increased chance of acquiring a vaccine-preventable disease. But Sears stands by his suggestions.
“I don’t delay the most important vaccines — meningitis, measles, whooping cough. So kids who follow my schedule are not put at risk,” he says. “I encourage parents to get involved to protect their rights to make medical decisions regarding vaccines.” Sears notes that parents wanting to space out shots could be wary because of a combination of factors: that “2,000 severe vaccine reactions” are reported each year to the CDC; that nearly $3 billion in payouts has been made by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to children who have suffered extremely rare but devastating vaccine injuries; and that “Dr. Thompson, the CDC whistle-blower, came forward last year to reveal that CDC research into vaccine safety wasn’t done honestly and properly.” Finally, Sears says, “I continue to encourage parents to vaccinate in alternative an schedule that slows down and spreads out the vaccines without delaying any of the important ones.”
But Kempe suggests physicians encourage the recommended schedule while approaching the fear of vaccine safety “honestly” with patients, noting that the data on how safe vaccines are will speak for itself. “Everything we do in medicine is a tradeoff,” she adds. “Next to clean water, vaccines are the best bang for the buck we’ve ever had: The potential downsides are so small, but the benefits are enormous.”
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