9 Reasons Why Vaccination Is Definitely A Thing You Should Do
4. "Kids Immune Systems Are Too Immature To Handle Them"
Nope. I know that your precious bundle of joy looks all fragile, but they are the result of millions of years of evolution that allows then to lie on the floor of a cave and eat bugs. The idea that is peddled around that the immune system is too immature until the age of 2 (or whatever) is a load of gibberish. There's evidence to suggest that the adaptive immune system develops in utero, which makes sense really, as the first thing you do when you're born is take a big gulp of air teeming with over 1,800 varieties of bacteria. Because, generally speaking, we're not into the whole "infant mortality" thing, we like to give this burgeoning immune system a helping hand. This myth is generally spawned by the fact that there are, to be fair, a lot of vaccinations to fit into the first two years.This leads some parents to delay their vaccination schedule so that they are more spread out, leaving their child at risk of deadly diseases for a longer period of time. However, despite the fact that there are a lot more injections to get, the actual vaccines themselves contain far fewer antigens than they used to. Back in the day, a smallpox vaccine could contain 200 antigens, whereas now, the first 13 that you get only contain and average of 130 combined. The side effects that are said to be caused by the "overload" to the immune system often boil down to things like "crying" (duh, someone's sticking a needle in your baby) and "the sniffles". Well, I don't know about you, but the sound of a baby crying doesn't grate on me so much that I'd rather they came down with mumps. Granted, delaying you vaccination schedule is better than not doing it at all, but it is essentially pointless and potentially dangerous.
