As parents, we never received as many vaccines as our children receive today. If you were born in the 1960’s or 1970’s you received around half as much.
The Math
Is the math right? You can check. Here is the calculation:
| Vaccine | Number of Doses | Count | Number of individual vaccines | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hep B | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| Rotavirus | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| Dtap | 5 | 3 | 15 | |
| Tdap | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
| Hib | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 or 4 recommended |
| PCV 13 | 4 | 1 | 4 | |
| IPV | 4 | 1 | 4 | |
| MMR | 2 | 3 | 6 | |
| Varicella | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| Hep A | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| MenACWY | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| HPV | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 or 3 recommended |
| Influenza | 18 | 1 | 18 | |
| Total | 69 |
For example, since the MMR vaccine is actually 3 vaccines in one (measles, mumps, rubella), it is counted as 3 under the “Count” column. The number of individual vaccines is simply the number of doses multiplied by the “count”. So, in this example two doses of MMR equals 6 individual vaccines.
CDC Schedule
This is the schedule from the CDC website.
Additional information about each vaccine is available here.
Antigens
The video did not discuss antigens. Antigens are a foreign substance which induces an immune response in the body, especially the production of antibodies. The CDC says,
“A child who receives all the recommended vaccines in the 2018 childhood immunization schedule may be exposed to up to 320 antigens through vaccination by the age of 2.”
