Report supports infant vaccinations.(Brief Article)

2002 APR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Institute of Medicine has reported that getting up to 20 vaccinations by the age of 2 does not increase a child's risk of developing diabetes or various infections.

However, there is not enough evidence yet to decide if multiple shots increase the risk of developing asthma, the panel of independent scientists concluded.

The report should reassure parents that "there's not a lot of support for those risks" critics often cite, said the panel chairwoman, Dr. Marie McCormick of the Harvard School of Public Health. But "the diseases that their children are being protected against are very real."

The report is one of a series on the health effects of immunization, compiled by an institute-appointed committee of medical specialists who have no financial or advisory connections with vaccine manufacturers. The Institute of Medicine is an independent organization that does research at the request of the government.

Recent surveys suggest about 25% of parents worry that infants get so many vaccines that the shots could overwhelm their immature immune systems and cause infections or immune-related disorders such as type 1 diabetes.

In 1980, babies were immunized against four diseases. Today, by age 2 most children have had up to 20 shots to protect against 11 diseases.

But babies actually are exposed to fewer antigens now than in previous decades, the institute said. For example, pertussis vaccine given in the 1980s contained about ...