Combination vaccines are incredibly convenient. Instead of getting your kid poked 5 times you can do it once and get it all over with.
It’s not worth it.
I’m going to go over the reasons you should avoid combination vaccines entirely. I don’t want to get too into the weeds when it comes to one particular combo vax in this article. There are way too many and they are approving more every year.
What I will provide is a framework for how to think about these shots. Even without data, you’ll agree with me. The data isn’t great either, though.
**This is not medical advice. Ask your doctor about this before making any decisions**
Reactions
This is the most obvious one. When you give a combination vaccine you don’t know which one your child is reacting to, if they have a negative reaction.
Some of the shots they give nowadays have 5 different vaccines in them. Maybe your child can tolerate 4 of them but the 5th gives them trouble. Well, now your options are to break them all up, avoid them altogether, or push through and hope your kids turn out ok.
On their surface combination vaccines make sense. But you wouldn’t apply this logic to most other things in life.
I like orange juice. I like peanut butter. I like lobster. I like toast. That’ll make a good sandwich!
See how dumb that sounds?
Testing
Vaccine testing is notoriously weak. Some of these are tested for days (literally). They seldom have true control groups. Do you think they’re really well-tested when these combinations are all added together?
On paper, they are. But data is pretty easy to manipulate. If you were sentient for the covid debacle you know what I’m talking about.
Too many
A couple of years ago I saw a woman in the office who had massive bruises on both her thighs. She was in a wheelchair, which I found odd. She looked to have decent muscle bulk on her legs and was in great shape. Turns out, she went to a spin class and developed rhabdomyolysis. This is when you exercise the muscles so much that they break down suddenly and release myoglobin. The myoglobin goes into the bloodstream and destroys your kidneys. She had just spent 2–3 weeks in the hospital with acute kidney failure because of a spin class. She still couldn’t walk.
When you’re giving someone artificial immunity such as with a vaccine there is a fine line between stimulating the immune system with adjuvants and overwhelming their immune system with too many vaccines.
Let’s get back to that spin class and the unfortunate lady with bruised legs and cooked kidneys. She was probably the only person who developed this reaction from a spin class. Everyone else was sore the next day, but nothing out of the ordinary. She had a life-threatening condition and was very likely going to need a kidney transplant. Her life will never be the same.
How is that any different from these vaccines? Giving one vaccine per day (or a few days) is reasonable if you wish to vaccinate your kids. But giving 5? Sounds like a risky gamble to me.
Less Flexibility
Once you’re playing the combination vaccine game you’re stuck in it. These things are designed to work together and follow a particular schedule. If you want to stop one particular vaccine you need to change the schedule for all the others.
This sounds like a small thing but it can become very cumbersome to manage. It leads to errors in which one will be administered, requires more trips for you, and more time for the office staff.
Some Pitfalls and Pointers
Avoiding combination vaccines altogether is an option. Your pediatrician will hate it and will probably protest. But it’s not up to them. They can get single doses of any vaccine. If it’s a vaccine you want to give your kid and the pediatrician refuses to track it down, find someone who will.
Spread them out. If you’re supposed to give your kid, for example, 4 shots at the 2-month appointment, split them up. Pick one to give at that appointment. Wait a week or two (preferred) and go back for the next. And then the next. And the next. It’s not easy, but it’s the only option you have, unfortunately.
Get comfortable telling your pediatrician “no.” Most of them are going to harass you every single appointment for refusing shots. Their staff will harass you. They may even kick you out of the practice. That’s fine. You don’t need to be bullied into giving your kid a vaccine you aren’t comfortable with.
Find a good doctor. Use Facebook. I’m serious, it’s the best place to look. Go onto the local “[insert your county] moms” group on Facebook and ask about doctors who are lenient with vaccinations. You will find at least one who values patient and parental autonomy.
Wrapping Up
The takeaway point here is this: you don’t need to give your child combination vaccines. They are more convenient but more risky in my opinion. They aren’t worth the risk. You can easily keep up with the full schedule if you want to, as long as you’re willing to take a few extra trips to the doctor.
Before you go, I want to share something with you. I work at a desk a lot. I sit or stand at one for work, I’m sitting at one right now while I write this.
Sitting is terrible for you. It gives you horribly ugly posture and makes you look like Quasimodo. And even worse, it takes years off your life.
Bowtied Kobra and Bowtied Bengal have both written fantastic articles for Renegade Health Magazine. But now they’ve embarked on a bigger and better mission: fixing what hurts you.
They are both incredibly talented physical therapists. I would personally trust them with my care should the need arise.
They have about 2 dozen programs they’ve created for a wide range of ailments and even do 1-on-1 consults. The one I’ll be working through is the “Desk Monkey Mobility Flow 2.0”
Why 2.0? Because it’s harder and better. They have instructional videos for everything you will be doing. And best of all, you don’t need equipment. You just need to put the work in.
If you’re hurt and find yourself wondering, “Now what?” I recommend you check them out.
I hope you’ve learned something from this article. If you did, share it.
https://www.nhs.uk/vaccinations/nhs-vaccinations-and-when-to-have-them/ you would hate the UK/NHS. As a newborn, babies get three doses of a 6-in-1, at 12 months, they get four single vaccines, one in each limb. Other combo's throughout life. But the NHS would value convenience.
For any future child I will be asking about alternative schedules, even if it means going private. My son just got one illness after another as well as skin complaints after the 12 months jabs. I cannot say if it is a coincidence, but it just seems so much to give them at once. He's 2 and doing better now.
I love these recommendations. Unfortunately you will be kicked out of some clinics because they REFUSE to diverge from their state’s vax schedule. I started doing this with my kids in 2016 and was told by two different physicians that they would be audited, or they only administer per the CA schedule. None of these were related to my kids’ benefit.
But alas, I’ve resided in Texas for the last two years now and don’t have to worry about the lunacy of “modern medicine”