The typical American child receives 24 immunizations by age 2,
with some getting as many as five shots during a single doctor's
visit. Is this the best way to protect young children from
deadly diseases, or does it overload the immune system of these
tiny bodies making some vulnerable to a vaccine-induced
reaction? On Wednesday, after reviewing existing research, the
influential Institute of Medicine declared the recommended
vaccine schedule safe. "We conducted an extensive (scientific)
literature review," said Alfred Berg, a family medicine
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. "Our
committee found no evidence that the childhood immunization
schedule is not safe." Advances have reduced the inactivated or
dead viruses and bacteria that children are exposed to in
vaccines, the committee said. And it noted that new vaccines
undergo rigorous testing by the Food and Drug Administration.
But the findings are unlikely to ease the concerns of some
parents of autistic children and other critics who be