Vaccination Schedule

The wonderful Dawn Papple wrote a great article on the Everything Birth blog about vaccination. I totally agree with her that parents need to be more informed on what is happening to their children during "routine" vaccinations.

Read her article HERE!! 

I provided my response to the article in the comments section, but here is a repeat because I think this is an important topic. 

Response to article: 
1) Singapore has the lowest infant mortality on the chart and they have a vaccination rate above 93% for the infants in that country.
“The routine vaccinations currently recommended to children here in Singapore include BCG, Hepatitis B, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (DTP), Poliomyelitis (Oral Polio Vaccine), Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR). The coverage of these vaccines in Singapore is above 93 per cent.”
2)Sweden who is number two on the list also has an incredibly high vaccination rate “The DTAP/IPV/Hib coverage is 98% or above and the MMR coverage has been roundabout 94-95%, with a temporary drop during the autism debate” -The Swedish Institute of Infectious Disease Control
3)There are a number of things that affect infant mortality. In the United States premature birth increased 20% from 1990-2006. Premature birth leads to higher rates of infant mortality (This has a lot to do with so many medical intervention during birth- epidurals, inductions, c-sections–but that is another topic altogether. I am a strongly anti c-section unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary)

**There are so many factors that come into play when looking at infant mortality. The biggest thing here to me is be informed on which vaccines are needed! Infant mortality is highest in countries with incredibly low vaccination percentages. So if one looked solely at the countries with highest infant mortality they would say “Wow, immunizations really save some lives”, but then if you look at just the countries with the lowest infant mortality you will see a direct correlation with the infant mortality rate and number of vaccines. This leads me to believe there is a happy median. In Sweden they all take 12 vaccines during infancy as opposed to the 26 we typically take in the U.S. So I would strongly urge everyone to do their research and decide what is best for them. No vaccination has high risk as does full U.S. recommended vaccination schedules. So find your happy median.

Conclusion: 
When looking at the statistics as a whole. Those countries with HIGHEST infant mortality do not vaccinate. From what I have read and seen on the information 12-17 vaccinations seems to be the PRIME. Anything above that has negative affects and anything below that has negative affects.