Everyone wants what?s best for their kids, of course, but combine the natural tendency of parents to worry with the fear-invoking power of the Internet, and sometimes our good intentions can be downright dangerous.
The 150-person measles outbreak that began in Disneyland, as well as cases closer to home, are signs that some parents are forgoing vaccinating their children from immunization-preventable diseases. Other parents, still worried about vaccines but equally concerned about their kids falling ill, may be choosing to follow altered vaccination schedules, like the one prescribed in The Vaccine Book by Robert Sears.
But vaccination experts agree that tinkering with a schedule that has been painstakingly developed and proven over decades to be both safe and effective is impractical, potentially dangerous and gives parents a false sense of security. Since its original publication in 2007, The Vaccine Book has been embraced by parents who aren?t hardline ?anti-vaxxers? but still have doubts. Sears, a California paediatrican, claims his book is not anti-vaccine, but offers parents choices, like a modified schedule that includes delaying or spacing out (or forgoing) certain inoculations, giving combination vaccinations separately and performing diagnostic blood tests to see if some boosters are even needed.
?Some things recommended by this alternate schedule are not possible,? says Wendy Vaudry, a paediatric infectious disease specialist at the Stollery Children?s Ho...