Doctors open to altering child vaccines

Most pediatricians in Washington state say they are sometimes or frequently asked to provide alternative child vaccine schedules, researchers say. Dr. Doug Opel, bioethicist at Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington, said 77 percent of the state's pediatricians are asked by parents to alter the vaccine schedule recommended by federal health officials. Sixty-one percent said they were comfortable using an alternative schedule when requested. "When discussing alternative childhood immunization schedules, pediatricians have to balance two things -- respecting the parents' decision and protecting the health of the child," Opel said in a statement. "This is a difficult and important discussion, and what we found was that most pediatricians are comfortable being flexible with the immunization schedule when parents ask for this flexibility." The 209 pediatricians involved in the study were least willing to revise the schedule for three vaccinations: diphtheria-tetanus toxoids-acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP), Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine (Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). The findings, scheduled to be published in the December print issue of Pediatrics, suggest physicians want to prioritize immunizations that protect against some of the most common and most dangerous diseases which may occur during infancy and early childhood. Skipping the DTaP vaccine, for example, could lead to pertussis, or whooping cough and pertussis is still common in the United States with frequent outbreaks, while the Hib and PCV vaccines protect against infections such as meningitis and pneumonia, Opel said.