How Many Vaccines Did Kids Get in the 1950s?

I recently posted an immunization schedule from the 1960s to bust the myth that kids didn’t get many vaccines before the 1970 and 80s, even though they actually got multiple doses of DTP, polio, and smallpox vaccines.

But how about if we go back even earlier than that?

My uncle got polio around the time this vaccine schedule was released in 1951, but before the first polio vaccines were being routinely used.

In 1951, infants got multiple doses of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccines and the smallpox vaccine by the time they were 6 months old, with boosters through age 10 years.

Multiple doses with aluminum. And thimerosal. And far more antigens than kids are exposed to today, even though they now get many more vaccines.

“Tetanus toxoid recall injections should be continued every 3 years throughout life in dosage of 0.1cc to 0.2cc.”
AAP Report of the Committee on the Control of Infectious Diseases 1951

Oh, they also got revaccinated with the smallpox vaccine “every five years.”

And yes, most of the vaccines contained aluminum.

“The Committee recommends that all infants be immunized actively against diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus with a course of injections of combined alum or aluminum phosphate precipitated, or aluminum hydroxide adsorbed diphtheria and tetanus toxoids containing H. pertussis vaccine. These products are considered preferable to fluid mixtures for the following reasons: (1) more prolonged antitoxic immunity produced by precipitated or adsorbed mixtures, (2) greater effectiveness as immunizers against pertussis in early infancy, and (3) less likelihood of producing systemic reactions because of lower protein content and slower absorption.”
AAP Report of the Committee on the Control of Infectious Diseases 1951

Other vaccines were also available for special situations, including rabies, typhoid, parathyphoid, and the BCG vaccine.

“Acetylsalicylic acid, 65 mg per year of age, should be given within an hour or two of injections and repeated 4 hours thereafter.”
AAP Report of the Committee on the Control of Infectious Diseases 1951

While it is likely a very big surprise to anti-vaccine folks that kids got multiple doses of DPT, tetanus, and smallpox vaccines back then, unfortunately, it means that they were susceptible to many diseases that are now vaccine-preventable.

Diseases that our kids don’t have to get, because they can be vaccinated and protected with vaccines that are safe, with few risks, and still necessary.