Peter Doshi did an amazing presentation on Japanese vaccine policy and I wanted to share some information that I found amazing. I have emailed him to get his slides and hope to print more on what he spoke about but here are my notes.
Japan is similar to us as they are quite large with 130 million people. In 1994 Japan moved away from an aggressive schedule and stopped mandating all vaccines. Currently, Japan has a list of vaccines that are recommend and a list of vaccines that are elective. If a person chooses to get an elective vaccine they must pay out of pocket for this vaccine.
New born babies in Japan are not vaccinated. The first three month's of a baby's life is vaccine free. By age 2 months in the United States a baby has 9 vaccines. In Japan the two recommended vaccines from ages 3-6 months are Polio and TB. Significantly less than our babies in America. By the age of 2 the Japanese schedule has 17 doses of 7 vaccines and in the United States our children have 33 doses of 14 vaccines.
In Japan they space out their vaccines. A baby may receive one live vaccine every 27 days. In America you can have between 7 yo 9 vaccines in one visit. There are no studies that have ever been done to show that giving many vaccines at one time is safe. There is no studies showing combination vaccinations are safe. The studies have never been done! But we combine shots and give them all at the same time. Not ever country agrees with us and Japan is one that is strict about only giving one vaccine at a time.
There is no tracking and tagging system in Japan. The government does not keep records on vaccination nor does the doctor. Each time the baby is vaccinated it is recorded in the Mother Child Health Handbook which is kept by the mother. The schools do not ask for proof of vaccination and never see these records. The only time a doctor sees these records is when the parents want to vaccinate. The doctor always checks to ensure there are enough days spaced between the vaccinations.
The Mother Health Hand book has a list of cautions when vaccinating. It also asks that the parent do the following:
Tell your doctor if your child has an health issues or concerns. This may be a reason not to vaccinate.
Tell your doctor if your child experienced any reaction to the vaccine.
Tell your doctor if your child has experienced seizures.
Tell your doctor if anyone in your family has ever had a vaccine reaction.
The handbook also advises the following:
Take your child's temperature before coming in to vaccinate your child. If is is elevated at all please do not come in as we will not vaccinate your child.
Afterward, please watch your child for 30 minutes for immediate reaction. Monitor your child all day and avoid all activity on the day of vaccination. Of fever or seizure happens see your doctor immediately.
What is incredibly interesting about this is that in the United States doctors feel it is safe to give vaccinations if a child has been ill, has a cold and never ask about the health status of the family. We basically do the opposite of what Japan does!
One other interesting fact, Japan does not give the MMR vaccine. It only gives measles and rubella. They do not give mumps. We should really consider this as mumps are not dangerous when caught as a child but is dangerous as an adult. If our children could get it as children that would avoid having to re-vaccinate through out life. If our children do not get is as children then we could vaccinate to protect adults.
If i get the slides I will cover more on the Japanese system.
Off to start the day!
Recent Comments