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Spacing Out Child Vaccines

Should I space out my child's immunizations?

Tanya Altman, MD, FAAP

There isn't any evidence 'that spacing out vaccines is better than giving them according to the schedule that has been studied and tested for many years by the CDC. In fact, by spacing out your child's vaccines, what you are doing is leaving them vulnerable to these diseases at a time when they can get really sick when they are so young. There is a reason that we vaccinate babies at two months, at four months, at six months of age. It's because that's when if they were to catch these illnesses, they can get very seriously ill and even die.

Narrator

Tell me more about the two, four, and six, why was that chosen?

Tanya Altman, MD, FAAP

That's a good question. Scientists have been studying vaccines for quite some time, and they are always improving them and making them better. And initially, they came up with this vaccination schedule, as to when the best time is to give vaccines to infants. And if you look at the schedule, you'll notice that there are several booster doses. So for example, babies will get their first whooping cough vaccine. It's a combination of DTaP Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis, which is whooping cough at two months. And then at four months, when they get that booster vaccine, it protects them a little more. And then at six months, they get another booster, and they're protected even a little more. And then at 15 or 18 months, they will get that final booster to get them the best protection that we have until they need another dose before kindergarten. And all of these booster doses are important, because over time, immunity to certain diseases can wane, and so with each booster dose that you get, your body is generating more protection.

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Narrator

Should I space out my child's immunizations?

Tanya Altman, MD, FAAP

There isn't any evidence 'that spacing out vaccines is better than giving them according to the schedule that has been studied and tested for many years by the CDC. In fact, by spacing out your child's vaccines, what you are doing is leaving them vulnerable to these diseases at a time when they can get really sick when they are so young. There is a reason that we vaccinate babies at two months, at four months, at six months of age. It's because that's when if they were to catch these illnesses, they can get very seriously ill and even die.

Narrator

Tell me more about the two, four, and six, why was that chosen?

Tanya Altman, MD, FAAP

That's a good question. Scientists have been studying vaccines for quite some time, and they are always improving them and making them better. And initially, they came up with this vaccination schedule, as to when the best time is to give vaccines to infants. And if you look at the schedule, you'll notice that there are several booster doses. So for example, babies will get their first whooping cough vaccine. It's a combination of DTaP Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis, which is whooping cough at two months. And then at four months, when they get that booster vaccine, it protects them a little more. And then at six months, they get another booster, and they're protected even a little more. And then at 15 or 18 months, they will get that final booster to get them the best protection that we have until they need another dose before kindergarten. And all of these booster doses are important, because over time, immunity to certain diseases can wane, and so with each booster dose that you get, your body is generating more protection.

Two Top Biden Administration Officials Warn Of Threat To U.S. Children If Anti-vaccine Views Prevail

Two senior Biden administration officials on Wednesday warned there could be serious consequences for the nation's children if it had to relearn lessons about the public health benefits of vaccines.

The comments, which came as the country waits to see who will fill key health positions in the new Trump administration and how much sway anti-vaccine figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Might exert, were made by Mandy Cohen, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at an event in Washington, and Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine regulator, at a scientific conference in Boston. 

Both cautioned the country may pay an unnecessary toll if it adopts policies that undermine the uptake of childhood vaccines in particular.

"I think we have a very short memory of what it is like to hold a child who has been paralyzed with polio or to comfort a mom who's lost her kid from measles. It's not that many generations ago, but it is far enough away that folks have forgotten," Cohen told an audience at the Milken Institute's Future of Health Summit.

"No one wants to see a child paralyzed, a child die from something that we can prevent."

Speaking at the 12th International mRNA Health Conference, Marks said he's worried American children may die as the result of an embrace of policies that are not based in science.

What Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Might do to undermine vaccines — and what they likely can't

"What I learned in parenting when my kids were 3 or 4 years old…the whole country may have to learn…. The natural consequences of not believing in science or the potential benefit of these vaccines may be that we have unnecessary deaths," said Marks, who is director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "I'm sorry to say that. I hope it doesn't have to come to that, but it seems like that is where we are.

"I like to be respectful of people's opinions, but to me, this is not an opinion issue. It's just black and white. We know what the safety profile of these vaccines are. We know how many lives they saved, and I think we're just going to have to reiterate that and let people make their choices," he said.

Marks' comments came in response to a question about Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo's call earlier this year for the country to stop using Covid-19 vaccines made using mRNA technology. It has been reported that Kennedy has recommended Ladapo — who often espouses views that are at odds with established public health policy — to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which would give him authority over the FDA and the CDC.

Cohen is a political appointee; she will not be CDC director in the new administration. Marks is not a political appointee. He headed CBER during the first Trump administration. Still, Marks alluded in his response to the fact that his future could be uncertain.

"I probably can't say much more, because I would like to keep my job — at least until I get home," he quipped.

Cohen's remarks were in response to a question regarding a comment Kennedy made on the social media platform X in March, where he said he wanted to "clean up the cesspool of corruption at CDC" and to force public health agencies to "come clean about Covid vaccines."

Without addressing Kennedy's claims directly, the CDC director described vaccines as being society's bulwark against illnesses that are no longer common because of high vaccination rates. 

"I don't want to have to see us go backwards in order to remind ourselves that vaccines work," she said. "They protect our kids. They're our best defenses against these terrible illnesses that luckily we haven't seen, but we are starting to see around the world because vaccine rates post-pandemic are lower."

Asked how spirits are at the CDC these days, Cohen acknowledged there is a sense of unease, saying that "when public health is working, it's invisible. We like to be out of the news and we're in the news a little bit."

She admitted she's worried about talk in some Republican circles about restructuring the CDC, in ways that would sharply pare down its responsibilities and have it refocus more tightly on infectious diseases.

"I am concerned when I see proposed budgets out there that zero out our ability to work on overdoses, on suicide," Cohen said. "What do you think is killing people under the age of 50? Top reason is unintended injury … which is a combination of suicide, overdoses, car accidents and for children, the number one thing that is killing our children is drowning."  

Cohen said the CDC has worked hard to learn from errors in the Covid-19 response, and to strengthen its capacity to respond to the next disease emergency, whatever it is. "We need an entity like the CDC as well as our larger public health ecosystem to protect folks' health every day," she insisted. "And I think we need that not just for health security, but frankly, we've all learned, for the economic security of our country. We can have our economic security turned upside down by a small little virus." 

Is RFK Jr. Anti-Vaccine? Everything The HHS Secretary Nominee Has Said

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Has been nominated as the next Department of Health and Human Services secretary.

President-elect Donald Trump announced his pick on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday, saying he was "thrilled" to announce that the anti-vaccine activist would lead the incoming administration's health agency.

"For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health," Trump said, adding that Kennedy would "restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!"

Kennedy, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this year before switching to an independent bid that he abandoned in support of Trump's campaign, is one of the most vocal vaccine critics in the nation. Although Trump once called the activist the "dumbest member" of the dynastic family, Kennedy fell into favor after endorsing Trump.

The president-elect had previously suggested Kennedy would have "a big role" in the federal public health bureaucracy, but his transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick shut down rumors the position would be with HHS.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Speaks at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C., on May 24. Kennedy has been nominated as the next Department of Human and Health Services secretary. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Speaks at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C., on May 24. Kennedy has been nominated as the next Department of Human and Health Services secretary. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Is RFK Jr. Anti-Vaccine?

Despite opposing virtually all vaccines, Kennedy has insisted that he is not anti-vax and claimed that he's never told the public to avoid getting vaccinated.

Kennedy, who is on leave as the chair of the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense, has long repeated the debunked claim that childhood vaccines cause autism and when asked if there were any safe and effective vaccines on the market, Kennedy told podcaster Lex Fridman, there are "no" vaccines in that category.

Fridman pushed Kennedy on the polio vaccine—which is widely considered one of the other greatest medical advances of the 20th century and has been estimated to save more than 1.5 million lives and prevented paralysis in more than 20 million children—but Kennedy suggested the vaccine killed more people than it saved.

Kennedy also came under criticism for advocating against COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic as well as statements he made comparing lockdowns to Nazi Germany and claiming that the virus was "ethnically targeted" to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.

However, Kennedy has said he doesn't plan to restrict access to the vaccines he opposes.

Asked last week if he would take any vaccines off the market, Kennedy told MSNBC, "I'm not going to take away anybody's vaccines. I've never been anti-vaccine."

"If vaccines are working for somebody, I'm not going to take them away," he said, adding that "people ought to have choice and ought to be informed by the best information, so I'm going to make sure that scientific safety studies and efficacies are out there and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them."

Dr. Anthony Fauci at the U.S. Capitol on January 8. Fauci said that he doesn't know what's going on in Kennedy's head, but "it's not good." Dr. Anthony Fauci at the U.S. Capitol on January 8. Fauci said that he doesn't know what's going on in Kennedy's head, but "it's not good." Drew Angerer/Getty Images What Do Infectious Disease Experts Think of Kennedy?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and member of the Trump White House coronavirus task force, revealed over the summer that he spoke with Kennedy about vaccines.

While appearing on an episode of The Axe Files with David Axelrod podcast, Fauci recalled that during a presentation, "the first slide I remember [Kennedy] showed is that 'it has been shown that vaccinations are responsible for the following diseases' and he gave every disease in the world."

At the end of the meeting, "All we could say was 'Bobby, I'm sorry, but we don't really agree with you.'"

Fauci added that although he didn't know what was happening in Kennedy's head, "it's not good."

He said he told Kennedy, "Bobby, I believe you care about children, and you care that you don't want to hurt them, but you got to realize from a scientific standpoint, what you're saying does make no sense."

Daniel Havlichek, the former chief of Michigan State University's division of infectious diseases, previously told Newsweek, "I am concerned that [Kennedy] lacks even marginal scientific and public health training. This would lead to public health decisions based on his hunch about what to do. This is not good policy."

He said that vaccines have improved global health for hundreds of years but that despite best efforts, many viruses and diseases for which immunization is available remain "only a plane ride away."

"We need to remain vigilant against these pathogens, and vaccination is a highly effective way to protect ourselves and our children," Havlichek said. "Eliminating this protection without a well-vetted plan is naive."

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