Immunizations
Vaccine Announcement
Recent CDC vaccine guidance does not reflect an evidence-based change in safety or effectiveness. For that reason, our practice will continue to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations, which align with the prior CDC guidelines and are supported by the best available pediatric evidence.
Click Here for Schedule
Vaccinations are an important part of keeping your child’s health and the timing is critical. The American Academy of Pediatrics immunization schedule is designed so that kids and infants are protected from dangerous illnesses like measles, mumps, polio, and various forms of hepatitis at the earliest age that is healthy for them.
Each year, the immunization schedules are evaluated by top experts and pediatric specialists throughout the country, using the most up-to-date knowledge and research to make any possible improvements. For this reason, it is important that parents speak with their board-certified pediatrician to find out the current recommendations and to schedule their child’s immunizations.
At each well-child visit, we at Sandbar Pediatrics, will discuss any upcoming vaccines your child will need as well as any vaccines that are already due for your child. We’re happy to offer yearly flu vaccines as well to kids starting at six months of age while supplies last.
To discuss the immunizations your child needs, schedule an appointment at Kidmed.
Understanding Vaccine Information: How to Evaluate What You Read
Why One Article Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
1. Is the source a qualified expert?
People who use the title “doctor” may not be medical doctors (MD or DO). Even among physicians, not everyone has training or clinical experience related to vaccines. Look for:
MDs or DOs in pediatrics, infectious disease, immunology, epidemiology, or public health.
Researchers who publish in recognized scientific journals
Be cautious of opinions presented without clinical or research background.
2. Has the information been peer-reviewed?
In peer review, other experts evaluate a study before it is published to ensure:
The research methods were sound
The conclusions follow from the data
No major errors or biases are present
Peer review does not guarantee a study is perfect, but it is a key quality safeguard.
3. Does the study show causation or just correlation?
Correlation means two things occurred together.
Causation means one thing directly caused the other.
Many misleading vaccine claims rely on correlations alone.
4. Was the sample size large enough?
Studies involving only a small number of participants can lead to unreliable results. Larger studies are more likely to produce findings that can be repeated and trusted.
5. Who funded the study?
Funding itself does not invalidate results, but it should be transparent. Long-standing public health organizations and academic research centers generally follow strong scientific and ethical standards.
How Peer-Reviewed Research Is Structured
A research question or hypothesis
A Methods section explaining how the study was done
A Results section reporting data
A Discussion/Conclusion interpreting the findings
A secondary article (like a review or editorial) summarizes or comments on other research rather than presenting new data.
Both types have value, but primary research is what tells us how things actually perform in the real world.
Understanding Risk: ARR, RRR, and NNT
Term
Relative Risk
Reduction (RRR)
Absolute Risk
Reduction (ARR)
Number Needed to Treat (NNT)
Meaning
Compares percentage change between groups
Shows the true difference in outcomes
How many people must receive a treatment for one to benefit
Why It Matters
Can make small differences appear large
Gives a clearer, more realistic picture
Helps weigh benefits vs. costs or risks
Why We Don’t Continue Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) After Vaccines Are Proven Safe
Cohort studies
Case-control studies
Large population surveillance systems
These allow ongoing monitoring without denying children a known effective protection.
-Authors of a meta-analysis review of 10 studies (5 cohort and 5 case-control involving over 1.25 million children looked at autism spectrum disorders (ASD), vaccines, the ingredient thimerosal (mercury) and the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. No causal association was found between vaccinations and ASD or between ASD and the MMR vaccine, specifically. In addition, no causal association was found between ASD and thimerosal (mercury).
-Researchers studied 321 children with diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), autistic disorder (AD) or ASD with regression and 752 children not diagnosed with these conditions. They compared the number of components used in vaccines (antibody-stimulating proteins and polysaccharides) that each group of children had received through vaccines at these ages: birth to 3 months, birth to 7 months and birth to 2 years. The comparisons were to determine if children with a diagnosis of ASD, AD or ASD with regression had received more vaccine components. Having a diagnosis of ASD, AD, or ASD with regression was not associated with exposure to antibody-stimulating proteins and polysaccharides from vaccines in the first 2 years of life. An ASD, AD or ASD with regression diagnosis was not associated with exposure to these vaccine components at any of the studied time periods (birth to 3 months, birth to 7 months, birth to 2 years), or when comparing a how many vaccine components a child received in one day.
publications.aap.org/pediatrics/
-Researchers looked for any association between vaccines in the first year of a child’s life and neuropsychological outcomes 7-10 years later. The study involved more than 1,000 children born between 1993-1997. On-time vaccination in the first year was compared with delayed or incomplete vaccination in the first year. The researchers found no adverse effect on long-term neuropsychological outcomes in 42 tests related to speech and language, verbal memory, achievement, fine motor coordination, visuospatial ability, attention and executive-functioning tasks, behavior regulation, tics and general intellectual functioning. In fact, timely vaccination was associated with better performance on numerous outcomes.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/
-Mitkus et al. (2011) modeled aluminum exposure in infants from both diet and vaccines. They used updated pharmacokinetic parameters for absorption, tissue distribution, and renal clearance. The study compared predicted blood and tissue aluminum levels from vaccination with established safety limits. Most injected aluminum is cleared efficiently by the kidneys. Modeled body burden from vaccines remains well below the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) minimal risk levels. And even at the peak after multiple vaccines, predicted serum levels stay below thresholds linked to toxicity.
Conclusion: Aluminum adjuvant exposure from routine childhood vaccines is not expected to pose a health risk in healthy infants.
effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/products/safety-vaccines
This 2021 report is an update to a 2014 report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The 2021 update found no new evidence of increased risk since the 2014 report for rare adverse events (severe allergy, seizures caused by fever and blood clotting issues) following administration of routine recommended childhood vaccinations. The AHRQ serves to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable and affordable.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/
In a study of 994 children ages 24-47 months who had an emergency department (ED) or inpatient visit, 193 children were seen for an infectious disease for which there is no vaccine. Study authors counted how many antigens the children were exposed to through vaccines. They compared the group of 193 children with the remaining 801 children who were seen for a different reason. . There was no significant difference in the two groups of children related to their exposure to multiple vaccines through the first 23 months of life and their risk for infections not targeted by vaccines.
-Addresses the concerns about the infants immune system being overwhelmed and how effective an infants immune system is.posure from routine childhood vaccines is not expected to pose a health risk in healthy infants.
Study authors found COVID-19 vaccination did not affect odds of achieving pregnancy within one menstrual cycle for males or females. In contrast, though, the study did find that being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 may lead to a brief decline in fertility for males.
Authors found that women who had never been pregnant or who were pregnant before they received human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination were less likely to report infertility. No other associations between HPV and infertility were found
publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/
Researchers studied medical records from 584,171 children to learn whether there was an association between receiving on-time vaccination (according to the recommended immunization schedule) and children developing type 1 diabetes. The recommended schedule was not positively associated with T1DM in children. These results support the safety of the recommended childhood immunization schedule.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/
-A Danish randomized control trial that showed no association between the MMR vaccines and the development of atopic disease
publications.aap.org/pediatrics/
A cohort study included 715,484 children age 48-83 months. The children received one of these vaccine combinations:
dose of measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) vaccine,
dose of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and dose of varicella vaccine on the same day,
dose of MMR vaccine or
dose of varicella vaccine on a single day.
Researchers set out to determine risk of post-vaccination seizure for each group. Results showed more fevers and seizures in children who received the MMRV vaccine compared with children in the other three groups, but the finding was not statistically significant. Four febrile seizures were seen in the 7-10 days post-vaccination for children receiving the MMRV vaccine. Only one febrile seizure could be confirmed. Authors concluded that the rate of febrile seizure after MMRV was 1 in 86,750 doses. There was no increased risk of febrile seizures in any of the study groups within 6 weeks of vaccination.