"My Crystal Clear Stance on Vaccination" #6: Flawed Research-- Too Many Vaccines Too Soon for Babies' Immature Immune Systems

The chiropractor makes the following claim:

Even if the whole vaccine theory really worked, it would be absolutely pointless to inject a baby of 6 months or less with a vaccine.  With a child’s immune system being very immature until age 2, the overload of 36 vaccines by the age of 18 months seems about as logical as drinking from a fire hydrant.

This is really a silly, ignorant claim, a strawman with two arms, first positing that infants' only immune challenges are from vaccinations, then claiming that infants can't respond to immunological challenges.

Babies' immune systems begin developing in utero and are presented with trillions of challenges from the moment they enter the birth canal (or emerge into the world, in the case of c-sections).  The immune challenge from vaccinations is trivial compared to the daily encounters even babies in the cleanest, most hygienic households face.  The fire hydrant is daily life.

source: tinyurl.com/kiss-antigens

Text from image:
The average healthy adult human mouth is home to more than 600 unique species of bacteria and a very high number of viruses.  Every milliliter of saliva contains over 100 million bacteria. 

Every time a mother kisses her baby, the baby's immune system is exposted magnitudes more antigens than are present in the entire US childhood immunization schedule. 

A well-functioning immune sysstem is a marvel, protecting against countless viruses and bacteria even in the youngest children. It can handle the challenge presented by the US immunization schedule and it can handle the even-greater challenge from every mother's kiss.

Do not worry about 'too many, too soon'.  Vaccinate your baby on-time, every time.

A more light-hearted approach:

Source: http://tinyurl.com/babies-antibodies

Summary:
The chiropractor has counter-factual opinions about the robustness of the infant immune system and the relative challenges of daily life and immunization.

Sources:

Catani A,  Pediatric Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Springer; 2008 edition

Cohn, M. and Langman, R. E. (1990), The Protection: The Unit of Humoral Immunity... Selected by Evolution. Immunological Reviews, 115: 7–147. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-065X.1990.tb00783.xhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-065X.1990.tb00783.x/abstract


Fadel S, Sarazotti M. Cellular immune responses in neonates. Int Rev Immunol.2000;19 :173– 193 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10763708?dopt=Abstract

Holt PG, Jones CA, The development of the immune system during pregnancy and early life (2000), The development of the immune system during pregnancy and early life. Allergy, 55: 688–697. doi: 10.1034/j.1398-9995.2000.00118.x http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1034/j.1398-9995.2000.00118.x/full


Offit PA, Quarles J, Gerber MA, Hackett CJ, Marcuse EK, Kollman TR, Gellin BG, and Landry S, (2002) Addressing Parents’ Concerns: Do Multiple Vaccines Overwhelm or Weaken the Infant’s Immune System? Pediatrics Vol. 109 No. 1 January 1, 2002
pp. 124 -129  (doi: 10.1542/peds.109.1.124) http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/109/1/124.full

Siegrist CA. Neonatal and early life vaccinology. Vaccine.2001;19 :3331– 3346 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11348697


Screen Capture of Chiropractor's Claims 

Source:  "My Crystal Clear Stance on Vaccinations" by Kurt Perkins DC,  posted May 2012