'Vaccine delayers': Most docs warn against postponing shots

• Some parents want to delay vaccines for fear that too many shots in infancy can cause problems
• Experts say infants can suffer from serious illnesses if they delay shots

illMost pediatricians in the U.S. get requests from parents to spread out their children's shots, and many comply — even though they disagree with the practice, according to a new report in the journal Pediatrics.

In Larchmont, Dr. Alain Le Guillou sees parents like that every day.

But despite his reputation as a pediatrician with a holistic bent, Le Guillou gives "vaccine delayers" a stern lecture on the importance of sticking to the recommended schedule.

"The parents asking for delay are ignoring the fact that infants are the most susceptible to the dangerous diseases when they're little, not when they're three or four years old," he said. "If you wait, you're playing Russian roulette until the kids are vaccinated. And as we're seeing now with measles, not only do you put your kids at risk, but all the other kids around you."

According to the CDC, the measles outbreak that started in California in December has led to 170 cases in 17 states, including New York, and Washington, D.C.

Nationwide, about 77 percent of parents — including those who vaccinate — have concerns about shots, including fears about safety and too many immunizations in infancy, said Daniel Salmon, deputy director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

A popular reference for vaccine delayers — "The Vaccine Book,'' by California pediatrician Dr. Bob Sears — offers alternative vaccination schedules that spread out some shots.

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends numerous vaccinations in the first year of life, against diseases including Hepatitis B, rotavirus, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease and polio.

The first measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) shot is given beginning at 12 months, as are the vaccinations for chicken pox and Hepatitis A. Annual flu vaccines are recommended for infants six months and up.

Dr. Dan Cohen, of North Rockland Pediatrics in Garnerville, doesn't conceal his frustration with those who've "thrown science out the window" and want to postpone their children's shots.

"By delaying it, they think they're sort of softening the blow of something they don't really trust," he said.

Cohen has parents sign a release form, stating that they understand the risks of delaying or skipping certain vaccines. "I think it's dangerous on a public health scale not to give the vaccines,'' he said.

Parents who want to delay vaccines out of concern they'll cause developmental problems are basing that decision on fear and anecdotal reports, said Dr. Vicki Iannotti of Children's & Women's Physicians of Westchester.

Those sorts of parents don't make any sense to Michelle Howe, the mother of a three-year-old who's up to date on her shots. "When I hear they're scared of getting the flu shot or believe there's a link between vaccines and autism, it just sends me into a tizzy,'' said Howe, who lives in Haverstraw. "These are just such uninformed things to say. The flu shot does not cause the flu and all we know the whole autism vaccine link has been debunked."

Infants are the most vulnerable to serious infections from diseases like pertussis and Haemophilus influezae, said Iannotti.

Pertussis, or whooping cough, is particularly dangerous when babies don't have two or three doses of the shot, said Le Guillou.

Many parents haven't seen cases of measles and don't realize it can lead to encephalitis, hearing loss and even death, said Dr. Michael Lasser, who talks frequently to parents about vaccine schedules.

"When I was a baby, even in lower Westchester there was a polio epidemic in 1952,'' said Lasser, whose pediatric practice is based in Cortlandt. "And of course that's a wonderful vaccine. We quickly forget how it used to be."

Recently, some local vaccine delayers appeared to change their minds — at least when it comes to protection against measles. Last month, Le Guillou was glad to see many parents making appointments for their children's MMR shots before the start of school vacation. Cohen also saw an increase in requests for the vaccine.

But Iannotti knows parents will continue to share their worries about childhood immunizations. And she'd rather take care of all her young patients than refuse to see families that don't get their kids vaccinated on schedule.

"It's my perception that more pediatricians will work with the parent than draw the line in the sand,'' she said.

Twitter: @LindaLombroso