Some parents worry that routine vaccines may weaken their child’s immune system. A recent article in Pediatrics http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/109/1/124 [PDF file, 6 pages] should help parents, because it addresses these concerns. Briefly, the article outlines studies showing that:

• newborns are capable of mounting immune responses at the time of birth
• mild or moderate illnesses at the time of vaccination do not affect the level of protective antibodies produced by immunization.
• a young infant can generate protective immune responses to multiple vaccines at once
• levels of immunity are just as strong when several vaccines are given on the same day as when given singly.
• vaccinated children get fewer infections