TESTIMONY: Senate Committee on Health Care, State of Oregon, SB 442
February 18, 2015, 3pm
Respectfully Submitted: Jonathan B. Handley, Portland, OR
I was born in 1969. My father worked for the U.S. Government and I spent my childhood living in foreign countries, including the third world. Specifically, I was born in Singapore, then lived in Laos, Mexico, Korea, Japan, India, and the Philippines.
By my sixth birthday, I received a grand total of 5 vaccines (Oral Polio, Measles, DPT, Oral Polio, and Typhoid). I still have my shot records and would be happy to share with the committee.
In 1983, attached as Exhibit A, the 1983 immunization schedule for children by the age of 6 recommended 10 vaccines (DTP, Oral Polio, DTP, Oral Polio, DTP, MMR, DTP, Oral Polio, DTP, Oral Polio).
In 2015, attached as Exhibit B, by the age of 6, the CDC now recommends 37 vaccines for children before the age of 6. (Hep B, Hep B, Rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, PCV, IPV, Flu, Rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, PCV, IPV, Rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, PCV, IPV, Flu, MMR, Varicella, Hep A, Hep B, DTaP, Hib, PCV, Flu, Hep A, DTaP, IPV, Flu, Flu, Flu, Flu, Flu, MMR, Varicella). Because this is so confusing, I’ve attached the CDC schedule with my handwritten notes to count the total vaccines.
Interestingly, as opposed to the 37 we have, many other first world countries give far fewer vaccines to children by the age of 6:…
