Believe it or not, there are some anti-vaccine folks who believe that all vaccines are dangerous and unnecessary. And they believe that pediatricians push vaccines on kids in all situations, using a one-size-fits-all kind of immunization schedule.
Of course, neither is true.
Vaccines are safe and necessary.
There are some true medical contraindications and precautions to getting vaccinated though. Still, it is important to remember that even more things are simply “conditions incorrectly perceived as contraindications to vaccination.”
Contraindications To Vaccinating Your Kids
There are actually some good reasons to delay or skip one or a few of your child’s vaccines, but only in some very specific situations.
These very specific situations are called contraindications and are what count as medical exemptions.
“A vaccine should not be administered when a contraindication is present; for example, MMR vaccine should not be administered to severely immunocompromised persons.”
CDC on Vaccine Contraindications and Precautions
Fortunately, there are not that many of these contraindications, they are usually specific to just one or a few vaccines, and they are usually, but not always, temporary.
That’s why it would be really unusual to get a true permanent medical exemption for all vaccines. Even if you had a severe allergy to a vaccine that contained yeast, latex, or gelatin, since vaccines contain different ingredients, you would very likely be able to safely get the others.
Remember, your doctor can’t, or at least shouldn’t, just make up contraindications and exemptions to help you avoid getting your kids vaccinated and help you keep them in school.
“I do not believe vaccines had anything to do with my child’s autism. I never noticed any change in his speech, behavior or development with vaccines. I believe the protection and benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks!”
Michele Han, MD, FAAP
Autism, for example, has been shown to not be associated with vaccines, so it is not a contraindication to getting vaccinated. That’s why many parents vaccinate and protect their autistic kids!
Precautions To Vaccinating Your Kids
In addition to contraindications to getting vaccinated, there is an accompanying list of precautions.
“A precaution is a condition in a recipient that might increase the risk for a serious adverse reaction, might cause diagnostic confusion, or might compromise the ability of the vaccine to produce immunity (e.g., administering measles vaccine to a person with passive immunity to measles from a blood transfusion administered up to 7 months prior). A person might experience a more severe reaction to the vaccine than would have otherwise been expected; however, the risk for this happening is less than the risk expected with a contraindication. In general, vaccinations should be deferred when a precaution is present. However, a vaccination might be indicated in the presence of a precaution if the benefit of protection from the vaccine outweighs the risk for an adverse reaction.”
CDC on Vaccine Contraindications and Precautions
Again, we are fortunate that most of the conditions that are listed as precautions are temporary.
In fact, the most common is having a “moderate or severe acute illness with or without fever.”
Don’t want to get your child vaccinated when he or she has a severe illness?
Don’t worry.
Your pediatrician usually doesn’t want to vaccinate your child in that situation either.
It is easy enough to wait a few days or a week to get vaccinated, when the illness has passed, keeping in mind that a “mild acute illness with or without fever” is neither a precaution nor a contraindication to getting vaccinated. So you can still get your child their recommended vaccines if they just have a cold, stomach bug, or ear infection, etc.
What to Know About Precautions and Contraindications to Vaccines
Although there are some true medical exemptions or contraindications and precautions to getting vaccinated, most are vaccine specific and many are temporary, so they shouldn’t keep you from getting your child at least mostly vaccinated and protected.
More on Precautions and Contraindications to Vaccines
- CDC – Vaccine Contraindications and Precautions
- CDC – Who Should NOT Get Vaccinated with these Vaccines?
- Guide to Contraindications and Precautions to Commonly Used Vaccines
- Ask the Experts About Precautions and Contraindications
- AAP – Understanding vaccine precautions, contraindications
- Why You Shouldn’t Shop for Medical Exemptions
- Medical exemptions to school vaccine mandates soar in California as SB 277 makes personal belief exemptions unavailable
- News in brief: Bob Sears to face medical board over recommendation not to vaccinate and poor record keeping
- Eliminating Personal Belief Exemptions for Vaccines
- Medical exemption abuse – hurting California’s vaccine uptake
- Vaccination Exemptions
- MMWR – Tetanus in a Child with Improper Medical Exemption from Immunization — Florida
- ‘Vaccine Exemptions’? Call Them What They Really Are
- Experts say Dr. Sears offers bad advice on vaccine exemptions
