Most of the pediatricians who took part in the survey said that they were frequently asked by parents to change the schedule for the vaccinations their children needed. Many of the pediatricians said that they did spread out vaccination schedules for parents who requested them to do so.

The Risks

The vaccination schedule has been established so that children get the proper doses of vaccine into their blood stream to stop them from contracting serious cases of childhood diseases. Many of the vaccinations that are given to protect children from things like measles, mumps, and chicken pox, are given in multiple doses. Each dose contains a small amount of the vaccine and the children grow immune to the disease over a period of time as the medicine is introduced at increasing levels into their bloodstream.
If a doctor spreads the vaccines out and disrupts the schedule they can leave the child unprotected by the diseases they are being vaccinated against. Either the child will be vulnerable because they have not received the medication, or they will be vulnerable because they have not received the proper doses of medicine in the proper amount of time to allow them to build up the antibodies they need.

The reasons doctors agree to spread out the vaccination schedule

Many doctors say they agree to spread out the vaccination schedule because they want to build a trust between themselves and the parents of their patients. By honoring the request of the parents the doctors believe that they show the parents that they are willing to allow the parent to have control over what occurs with their child.
Some of the doctors say that they are pressured by the parents and feel that if they do not comply with the wishes of the parent, the child will be furthered delayed on receiving their vaccinations because the parent will stop bringing them to regular pediatric check-ups. The doctors agree to the vaccination delay in order to ensure that the child will continue to receive adequate medical supervision, especially since the child will be at a greater risk of contracting contagious childhood diseases.

The parents reason for requesting delays

Most of the doctors state that the parents ask them to delay vaccinations because they feel the shots are placing their children under too much stress. They believe the children need a longer period of time between vaccinations, so they can recover from one before receiving another one.
Many vaccines are given at the same time. Children often receive four or more shots at one vaccination visit. The parents who delay feel that their children are at greater risk from this schedule, and they want their children to receive only one vaccine at a time.