As Covis-19 infections spike again, some are wondering about proper vaccine etiquette. And parents may ask whether their child’s system could get overloaded if she gets multiple vaccines at the same time.
But doctors say the number of antigens that multiple vaccines introduce to the body is really minimal compared to the number of antigens that children are exposed to since the day they're born — think of the many colds children get every year just by playing in the dirt or putting sand in their mouth.
"If we couldn't survive the immunological challenge of vaccines, we wouldn't survive as a species," says Dr. Paul Offit, a leading expert in virology and immunology at the Children’s Hospital Philadelphia. "I mean, we encounter vaccines are literally, not figuratively, literally, a drop in the ocean of what we encounter and manage every day."
So, the short answer is no, a child’s immune system won’t get overloaded. And, as usual, consult with a doctor.