Immunocompromised:
immune system suppression due to any medical condition, drug or treatment.

Proclaiming the need to protect immunocompromised children from the unvaccinated is the cause du jour, isn’t it? Let’s force-vaccinate the American population of children in order to protect all of their immune-deficient classmates. Herd immunity! Protect those that can’t be vaccinated by vaccinating those who can!

What does it mean to be immunocompromised?

For those of you who never heard the term before the tidal wave of legislation brought about by Disney 2015, the CDC says there are 3 groups of immunocompromised people:

    • The severely immunocompromised without HIV
    • Those living with HIV
    • Those with immune deficits like spleen or kidney failure

If someone is immunocompromised it simply means that his immune system is impaired and he may get sick easier than the average person.

#1: Pediatric HIV

How many kids in the US catch HIV from their mothers? The CDC says that in 2010 we had 217 children under the age of 13 diagnosed with HIV. You read that right: an average of 4 kids per state got a new HIV diagnosis, and, due to early treatment, infections in children are on the decline.

Can these 217 newly diagnosed kids get vaccinated? Of course they can. You didn’t think the CDC was going to let them off the hook that easy, did you?

Inactivated vaccines are safe for immunocompromised people

The CDC says that the benefits of vaccinating immunocompromised children aged 6 through 18 with both Prevnar 7 and Prevnar 13 outweigh the harm.

The CDC goes even further to declare all inactivated vaccines safe for the immunosuppressed to use.

Live virus vaccines are safe for immunocompromised children, too

Does your doctor think you’re only mildly immunosuppressed? Then the CDC gives the all-clear for the MMR.

Ditto for the chickenpox vaccine. People with HIV can get that one, too.

So which vaccines are off limits for kids with HIV?

There aren’t any vaccines on the childhood schedule that school-aged children living with asymptomatic HIV can’t get.

#2: Primary immunodeficiency disease

The most common genetic condition causing primary immunodeficiency disease is Selective IgA Deficiency, which is found in about 1 in 500 Caucasians, and is less common in other races. Kids with this condition tend to have allergies and asthma, which, if you know anything about vaccines, is not a medical exemption from getting them.

Selective IgA Deficiency is genetic in only about 20% of cases, and it’s arguable that vaccines cause the other 80% of occurrences. Why do I say this? Because the autoimmune diseases associated with it are rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, and immune thrombocytopenic purpura—all of which are suspected Hep B and MMR vaccine injuries.

So which vaccines are contraindicated for kids with IgA deficiency?

There aren’t any vaccines on the childhood schedule that school-aged children living with the most common form of primary immunodeficiency disease can’t get.

#3: Kidney + spleen failure

Children with kidney and spleen failure are not excused from being vaccinated. In fact, the CDC says that these conditions may require repeat vaccination or higher doses of vaccines.

Did you catch that? If you are immune-deficient because of kidney disease they’ll give you repeated vaccines, or high-dose vaccines. Never mind that vaccines are loaded with aluminum and the label on the newborn vitamin K shot says, “WARNING: This product contains aluminum that may be toxic. Aluminum may reach toxic levels with prolonged parenteral administration if kidney function is impaired.” That’s another blog post.

So which vaccines are contraindicated for kids with kidney or spleen failure?

There aren’t any vaccines on the childhood schedule that school-aged children living with kidney or spleen failure can’t get.

#4: Pediatric organ transplants

The US Department of Health and Human Services says that in 2014, 1,652 children under the age of 17 received a transplanted organ in America. That comes out to about 33 children per state.

Children are supposed to be up-to-date on all vaccines prior to organ transplant. Then, within 3 to 6 months of the surgery, they’re good to get vaccinated again with everything but the MMR-V and FluMist, although the immune response varies by vaccine.

Basically, it comes down to this chart: only the severely immunocompromised are sometimes excluded from getting some of the live vaccines.

Which vaccines are live? Kids in elementary school aren’t faced with getting the live rotavirus vaccine because they’re too old, we don’t give the live polio vaccine in this county anymore because it was paralyzing people, and we don’t give the live smallpox vaccine to anyone but our military.

So what live vaccines can’t organ transplant kids get?

There are only three vaccines on the childhood schedule that school-aged children living with organ transplants can’t get: the MMR, chickenpox, and the nasal FluMist.

#5: Pediatric cancer

How many kids in the US are on chemotherapy at any time? I couldn’t find that number, but about 10,000 kids under age 15 are diagnosed with cancer each year (that’s an average of 200 per state), but not all types of cancer respond to chemotherapy.

{Side thought: as tragic as that number is, the number of new cases of autism diagnosed at the rate of 1 in 68 comes to 58,000 per year, but the real rate today is not 1 in 68. It’s probably double that — the 2014 statistic is based on kids born in 2002 — which is more than 10 times the number of kids diagnosed with cancer.}

What about vaccinating kids currently on chemotherapy? Their doctors say they’re free to get shots for everything but the MMR and chickenpox, which are given later when they’re in remission. The 7-year-old boy whose father wanted to ban the unvaccinated from his school got his first post-chemo vaccine a few weeks after his story went viral. What was the vaccine? The MMR, of course, because the polio and DTaP vaccines aren’t contraindicated for chemo.

So which vaccines are contraindicated for kids currently in chemotherapy?

There are only three vaccines on the childhood schedule that school-aged children currently on chemotherapy can’t get: the MMR, chickenpox, and the nasal FluMist.

The real kids who can’t be vaccinated

Do you know who really can’t be vaccinated? People who developed a deadly allergic reaction to vaccines. What about people who were vaccinated and then developed a deadly allergic reaction to eating a food protein ingredient present in vaccines? Nope. No medical exemptions for them. That exemption must be earned by nearly dying on the table after being vaccinated.

The legislative list

In closing, if you find yourself talking to a legislator who says that he needs to strip you of your parental rights to make medical decisions for your child, remember these points:

#1: Most immunosuppressed kids can be vaccinated!

There are no childhood vaccines that school-aged children with HIV, IgA deficiency, or kidney or spleen failure can’t receive.

#2: Children can get MMR & chickenpox vaccines post-chemo

The only vaccines that organ transplant recipients and children currently on chemo (which average less than 230 per state at any given time) can’t receive are the MMR, chickenpox, and live flu vaccine, although the regular flu vaccine is fine. Children will be given the MMR and chickenpox once they complete chemo.

#3: Keep recently vaxed kids home to protect the immunocompromised!

If every cancer center in America knows that people on chemo need to stay away from children who are recently vaccinated with live vaccines because they shed, why aren’t recently vaccinated kids kept out of schools to protect the immunocompromised?

#4: Vaccinated kids spread disease

Vaccinated children are not spared from carrying bacteria and viruses as if the vaccine is a magical shield. Vaccinated kids are fully capable of exposing immunocompromised children to disease.

#5: Most adults are unvaccinated

Except for the natural viral infections they overcame, most adults are considered unvaccinated. Why do we put the full responsibility of so-called “herd immunity” on the kids?

#6: Vaccine injury is real

The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program paid 365 plaintiffs last year who managed to claw out an award for brain damage and other permanent injuries.

#7: What deadly epidemic?

There hasn’t been a death from measles in this country in over a decade.

The bottom line

Who do we sacrifice for whose safety?

Are there children in America who are so immunocompromised that they may become seriously ill if they are exposed to measles, chickenpox, the flu, the MMR vaccine, the chickenpox vaccine, or the live flu vaccine?

Absolutely. They should be protected as their parents deem appropriate.

But not to the point that other children are sacrificed for their safety.

Vaccines injury isn’t rare

From the House of Representatives Report discussing the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act:

Previously unrecognized injuries associated with vaccines have become more widely known. While most of the Nation’s children enjoy greater benefit from immunization programs, a small but significant number have been gravely injured. 

At a few hundred cases scattered across each state, the number of immunocompromised children is small and their cases are rare.

When it comes to the 30,000 vaccine reactions that are filed with VAERS each year, the FDA has admitted that number reported is likely only 10% of all vaccine reactions (and probably far less; this study of 33,420 vaccinations administered suggests it’s more like 3.4%). It is entirely possible that there are nearly a million vaccine reactions in America each year, yet vaccine proponents argue that they are the “rare” ones.

Whose right is it to decide which lives matter more?

So, tell us again, Mr. and Mrs. Legislator, why is it that virtually all American children are required to be vaccinated to protect a few hundred severely immunocompromised kids when the CDC says the vast majority of them can be vaccinated with almost all vaccines?

It isn’t up to our local legislature to determine which child has more worth over another. There’s a reason that question sounds so shocking. No one is equipped or entitled to make such an immoral decision. All parents are entitled to care for their children as they see fit.

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Levi Quackenboss’s blog can be found here.