Do Children Get Too Many Immunizations?
The Answer is No.

Mark Crislip, M.D.
Stephen Barrett, M.D.

Vaccines deliver either small amounts of antigen (substances that provoke antibody responses) or genetically weakened germs that multiply more slowly and for a shorter period of time than their disease-producing counterparts. As a result, rather than being exposed to full-blown infections over a 7 to 14 day illness, the body "sees" just enough antigen to develop protective antibodies. For example, whereas a hepatitis B infection exposes the body to 1,100 micrograms of antigen per hour for a week, the hepatitis vaccine series provides a total of 30 micrograms [3]. Thus if any alleged ill effects of a vaccine were due to too many antigens, too much antigen, or too frequent antigens, the diseases would still cause far more trouble than the vaccines.

Immune System Capacity Is Huge

http://www.immunize.org/cdc/schedules/ -

The capacity of the immune system to respond to antigens is vast and far greater than most people realize. Experts estimate that humans can generate about 10 billion different antibodies [4] and that, due to exposures to germs and other foreign material, people make between 1 million and 100 million different antibodies during our lifetime [5]. The vaccine schedule produces a total of about 30 antibodies. It is also estimated that (a) each infant has the theoretical capacity to respond to about 10,000 vaccines at any one time and (b) if the 11 routinely recommended vaccines were administered together, the immune system would need to use only about 0.1% of its capacity to process them [6].

Misconceptions about Immunization

Introduction

Immunizations should be part of routine health care obtained through one's personal physician (or in some instances, through one's local health department). Long-lasting protection is available against measles, mumps, German measles (rubella), poliomyelitis, tetanus (lockjaw), whooping cough (pertussis), diphtheria, chickenpox (varicella), Hemophilus influenzae b (Hib), and hepatitis B. Immunization against all of these is recommended for children by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Practice, and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

All states now require proof of immunization or other evidence of immunity against some of these diseases for admission to school. However, the requirements vary from state to state, and exemptions may be granted for medical, moral, or religious reasons.

Immunization is also important for adults. Those unprotected against any of the above diseases (except whooping cough) should consult their physicians. Tetanus boosters should be administered every ten years. Flu shots (which give only seasonal protection) and immunization against pneumococcal pneumonia are recommended for high-risk patients, elderly individuals, and certain institutional populations.

The success of vaccination programs in the United States and Europe inspired the 20th-century concept of "disease eradication"—the idea that a selected disease can be eradicated from all human populations through global cooperation. In 1977, after a decade-long campaign involving 33 countries, smallpox was eradicated worldwide. Polio caused by wild virus has been eradicated from the Western Hemisphere; childhood vaccination levels in the United States are at an all-time high; and disease and death from diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) are at or near record lows. https://www.quackwatch.org/03HealthPromotion/immu/parents-guide-508.pdf -