Dr. Michael Kuduk, a physician in Winchester and past president of the Kentucky Medical Association, explained at a recent online event hosted by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky why children begin receiving immunizations as infants. He said babies' immune systems work differently than those of adults, whose immune cells have the ability to remember pathogens and fight them off before getting sick. Newborns have not yet developed the ability.
"Everybody wonders why their babies start getting sick is about six months of age, and the reason is, before that, they're protected by those maternal antibodies," Kuduk pointed out. "They don’t last forever."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood vaccination rates overall are below national targets, and exemption rates from at least one vaccine have increased.
Kuduk added that without immunologic memory, a baby's immune system is like a blank notebook waiting to be written in.
"The reason we provide vaccines when we do is we don't want that notebook to be filled up with things like rotavirus, diarrhea, dehydration, bacterial meningitis, serious bacterial illnesses, whooping cough," Kuduk outlined.
He understands parents' concerns about the vaccine schedule and the number of immunizations infants and small children receive. He noted schedules can change depending on corresponding illnesses, noting the MMR vaccine schedule changed when outbreaks persisted, despite shots given to kids at age one and age 12. He added that the outbreaks stopped when the booster shot was moved to age four.
"Vaccine schedules are being tested all the time because we're looking to see if these diseases we're supposed to be preventing are actually going away," Kuduk underscored.
According to data from the Commonwealth Fund, 64% of Kentucky children have all doses of their recommended vaccines.
