Discuss the new infant vaccinations schedule with me…

[LittlePeachh]

My DC1 has received all vaccinations to date (minus flu shot).

DC2 child has started to receive their vaccinations. I’m feeling uneasy with new introductions and how many vaccines they’re receiving in such a short time (34 before 2 y/o if I’m correct).

I know this can be a heated topic for debate but I’m interested in all perspectives…
Hoping we can respectfully discuss this.

Link to changes - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-the-routine-childhood-schedule-letter/changes-to-the-routine-childhood-vaccination-schedule-from-1-july-2025-and-1-january-2026-letter

By not giving your kids the chicken pox vaccine, you are putting them at a much increased risk of developing shingles, which can be a devastating illness.

Yep. I've had shingles and it was awful, took me about six weeks to get over it.

Thanks for your explanation. As I don't think vaccines are automatically safe, personally I would prefer it if they tested pregnant women for hep b and only vaccinated the babies of infected women

I'm sorry you went through that with your DD, it sounds so hard. What a shame they wouldn't space them out! Every little body is different and some need a slightly different approach, but the GPs are almost robotic with the timing in some instances.

If you're in the UK you should be able to catch up on vaccines if you want to.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vaccination-of-individuals-with-uncertain-or-incomplete-immunisation-status/vaccination-of-individuals-with-uncertain-or-incomplete-immunisation-status-from-1-july-2025

You're daughter is entitled to those vaccines so if you want her to have them, make a complaint to your local integrated care board if the doctors refuse to help.

Sure. But from the point of view of the JCVI, which knows that they are safe, that would just add in an additional and costly unnecessary step.

That isn’t practical though. They’d need to test them immediately before birth. There’s no point in testing mid-pregnancy when the mother could catch it after. Many, many women give birth unexpectedly, have premature births, home births etc so there is no way to guarantee the child is protected.

Hep B is worse in children than it is in adults. You are free to withdraw your own child from what you see an an unnecessary vaccine but realistically public health have to weigh the choice of a very, very low potential for vaccine injury (which is generally temporary) against the likelihood of silently infected mother passing it on, and if she does the 9/10 chance for a baby with hep B developing serious lifelong and potentially terminal issues.

My eldest sibling was born in 1962, and DM has a copy of Dr Spock from that time. It has a page highlighting 7 childhood diseases you can expect a child to get. Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Diptheria, Whooping Cough, Chicken Pox… I can’t remember them all but many were potentially fatal. These illness are now better known as vaccines rather than causes of death. Why wouldn’t I want to protect my children from these as soon as possible? Babies with older siblings, or who go to nursery, playgroup, or just interact with the world are likely to be exposed anyway.

I can never understand the vaccine hesitancy. How do you think these diseases have been mostly eradicated ? Through vaccines. Otherwise there would be SO many more deaths from meningitis, polio, measles etc. not to mention the first ever vaccine Smallpox.

Ok well then I think we need to get parents to pay for their child’s icu bed if they catch measles

Neither can I.
There is a distinct lack of critical thinking isn't there. Or they are too young to remember seeing kids affected by polio.

I remember seeing kids in calipers from contracting polio. My hearing and eyesight were affected by measles. I have also had German measles and whooping cough.

Yes, children are getting healthier! Or at least, they aren't dying as much, if you want to be picky about it...

The 6-in-1 vaccine in the UK has a tiny amount of aluminium (0.32–0.82 mg) to help the immune system respond. Only a small fraction of the aluminium is actually absorbed by the body. For perspective, a breastfed baby gets about 10 mg of aluminium from breast milk in their first six months, while formula fed babies get around 40 mg. Adults ingest around 7 to 9 mg a day from food and drink, and even a cup of strong tea contains about 0.82 mg.
The MMR is being given earlier because unfortunately measles cases have risen dramatically in the UK. Measles is extremely contagious and very dangerous for babies. It also often leads to immune amnesia, meaning the immune system can lose previous immunity to other infections from previous vaccines etc. So even after recovering from measles children are at higher risk for other illnesses as well.

There’s more negative things that can happen on both sides of the arguement than death. You realise that? There’s plenty of illnesses and conditions that if given an option of having, I’d rather choose death. Life at any cost isn’t the end goal for me. But that’s the point, we all have different priorities, which is why informed consent is so important.

Even if you take that line, surely it might also be possible to see that the diseases that killed (and are going down in number thanks to vaccines), also produced lifelong consequences, of exactly the type you suggest, for others that are also now avoided? Mumps, measles, rubella, polio...

The point is though, to answer the question about if children are getting healthier - yes. Emphatically and definitely, yes.

https://stateofchildhealth.rcpch.ac.uk/evidence/long-term-conditions/

Really? Just from a quick google search you can see in the link cancer and diabetes in kids are on the rise. We don’t know what’s driving that increase so my comment still stands. Kids are not getting healthier, they’re just dying less.

Viruses have been found to cause or increase the risk of a huge number of chronic diseases. https://rachel.fast.ai/posts/2025-10-07-rethinking-viruses/
Catching covid increases the risk of diabetes in children. https://www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj.q1557
https://www.statnews.com/2024/10/14/covid-diabetes-risk-children/

Even aspirin isn't safe and this vaccine is being given to newborns. So a certain percentage of newborns will suffer a serious adverse reaction to that vaccine that is mostly unnecessary

I realise the word "millions" was being used earlier to mean the majority - but just to break it down into stats for a moment.

Out of 1,000,000 children who catch chicken pox (approx numbers):

112,500 will get an infected spot (with all the risks/complications of any bacterial infection while immune system is weakened)
48,200 will develop pneumonia
33,900 will experience febrile convulsions
24,400 will experience encephalitis (swelling of the brain)
125 will die

~910,000 will be fine long term and gain immunity, but will then have a 1:4 risk of the virus reactivating as shingles in later life.

Bear in mind there are only about 150,000-200,000 cases of chicken pox each year in the UK, so a million is a lot - about 7 years' worth of infections.

Still reading through replies.

The 2nd vaccinations haven’t agreed with my DC2 at all… he had them before I wrote this post and is still experiencing side effects. We had him at the GP today for blood in his stools and they believe it’s a side effect of the rotavirus vaccine which has impacted his gut. Don’t know how to explain it, but had a feeling something was off with him almost 24 hours after

I have managed to postpone the 3rd set by a few weeks. The people to handle vaccinations in my area didn’t even ask why, the GP has said they’d do the same in my position but I’ve to see how he is, and recommends getting them as soon as.

Still not again vaccines like my post has been interpreted - it’s easier to go by a schedule but honestly, does that suit every child? can their birth weight impact how they respond? What are other factors leads to some children having adverse reactions, is it just chance? They are safe - for a majority. I guess that’s what matters and we would never recieve any evidence to state otherwise or acknowledge longer term side effects.