Egg Allergies and Immunzations

Updated on September 25, 2008
K.B. asks from Fremont, CA
16 answers

I recently discovered that my 15 month old daughter is allergic to eggs to the point where her ped. has told me not to get her flu shots or the MMR (Measles/Mumps/Rubella) Immunization. I have another appointment with her ped. to talk about options, but that is not for a few weeks. I'm concerned about possible exposure to the MMR diseases. For people in similar situations, are there alternatives to egg-based vaccines?

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So What Happened?

Her Pediatric Allergist is the one who recommended no MMR or flu shot. She is the one I have the appt. with in a few weeks.

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S.S.

answers from Sacramento on

My son is allergic to eggs and he is 4 years and had both MMR shots and just fine. However I have never given him a flu shot because it does contain eggs.

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B.R.

answers from Sacramento on

Consider this. Without the immunizations she may or may not get one of those diseases. If she does get one, you can do what mothers did for years before immunizations were available.... keep her home, quiet and help her through it. A lot of us have had those diseases and are none the worse for it. It's inconvenient at the time, and isn't a pleasant thing to deal with, but it is probably better than subjecting your daughter to immunizations that may harm her more, with her allergies.

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G.D.

answers from Modesto on

Nope, and probably best for your child to be spared ... the statistics show that breakouts are happening amongst the vaccinated children more so than with the non vaccinated ones... www.vacinfo.org
EDUCATE BEFORE YOU VACCINATE!!!

Love, G.. :0)
http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/
"I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin." ~ Jerry Newport

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Y.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi K.:

I stopped giving my daughter immunizations based on the overwhelming evidence of immunizations linked to ADD/ADHD, Autism and other gastrointestinal basesd immune response problems which is where allergies start. Conservative, text book pediatricians don't usually buy into that proof, but it sounds as if your ped. may be a little more open minded.

Have you heard of Homeopathy? Homeopathy does offer an alternative to "immunizations." All accross Europe and some parts of South America, homeopathy is utilized as a primary remedy first. It works and I can attest to it.

I work with Dr. Gerald Cohen,DC,Homeopath. My work as a traditional Naturopath provides a holistic approach to wellness. I carry the homeopathic immunizations in my office. I offer Quantum Biodfeedback which detects the stressors that could be possible cause of the bodies imbalance and delivers a harmonizing frequency to help the body restore balance. I used this technology with my daughter with the onset of illness and averted the illness all together or dissipated it quickly.

I will gladly answer any questions you have and can Be reached at 650-465-63756. Dr Cohen and I are located in Menlo Park. Best regards, Y. Souza.

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S.R.

answers from San Francisco on

You can contact the CA Dept of Public Health Immunization Branch
www.getimmunizaedca.org

Re. the replies that measles is now an "annoying" disease. Measles can lead to blindness, mental retardation, deafness and permanent scarring. Until 10 years ago, measles killed more children in Africa than AIDS. Exposing pregnant women to the vaccine cause damage to their unborn children.

There is no conclusive evidence on any large scale study that measles causes autism, ADD, or any other diseases.

Re. the claims that "more children with vaccines get vaccine preventable diseases than vaccinated kids." This is wrong statistics. Vaccines are 85-99% effective. Vaccines work is enough people get them. When there are outbreaks, some vaccinated children will get the diseases, but only a small percentage of the vaccinated children. However, almost all unvaccinated children will come down with these deadly diseases.

There is a lot of bad information about vaccines out there written by people who do not have the medical background to make these claims. For example, Dr. Wakefield's study linking MMR to autism was done on only 13 children, 7 of who had autism before the MMR. Wakefield, it turns out, was paid by lawyers for one of the children with autism.

Your children deserve to be protected from vaccine preventable diseases. Do your internet research carefully. You can space out vaccine if you like, but make sure your child is immune.

Recent outbreaks on measles in San Diego, polio outbreaks, are really scary. We can stop these and protect everyone, including babies who can't be vaccinated and pregnant moms who are not immune -- vaccinate your children.

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D.M.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi K.,

I don't think there are any alternative vaccines that don't contain eggs.

You need to speak to your allergist about if it would be OK for your daughter to have these shots. I am allergic to eggs, but I do not have life-threatening reactions to them. (I get an itchy rash.) My doctor's office had on file that I was allergic to eggs and refused to give me the flu shot (even after I explained that I was not severely allergic.) I ended up getting it from another clinic (that did not know about my allergy). I had no reaction whatsoever.

I expect that the allergist would say it is fine, unless your daughter has had an anaphalactic reaction before or has a really high RAST score to egg, indicating that a severe reaction is possible. (One of my kids has really severe food allergies, but it's to nuts, not eggs.) If the pediatrician still balks, you might be able to arrange to get the shots at your allergist's office...

-D.

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T.C.

answers from San Francisco on

It's great that you have such a responsible pediatrician since many just automatically stick to a rigid schedule and then end up with serious problems. Neither of my daughters had the MMR vaccine until much later since we chose to delay them due to allergies. It was a relief not to bombard their already oversensitive immune systems with the immunization. There are homeopathic immunizations which you can check into as well. In the interim between now and your appointment with the ped, relax. Unless you plan on traveling out of the country to Asia/Mexico with your child, I'm sure she'll be fine.

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M.C.

answers from Bakersfield on

My son (now 5) is also allergic to eggs (did the whole needle test an everything). Our ped. originally told us no flu shots as well however...After finding that my son could eat foods with eggs in them (pasta, breads etc.) with no reaction the ped. said that the flu shot was an option. We did the flu shot and watched him carefully for any kind of reaction and everything went fine. I do have to say though that other than eating straight eggs (which would cause cold like symptoms) or having skin contact with mayo (which gives him a rash around his mouth) we never really notice the allergy at any point. Your child may have a more sever allergy than mine but it is something that you doctor will need to advise you on. Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions :) Good luck

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A.S.

answers from Sacramento on

My daughter has the same allergy and with the flu shot we had to skip it too. There was an alternative-one you inhaled but she wasn't of age yet (I think you have to be 2). She received her MMR anyway since the allergy wasn't picked up until later, but I would contact a pediatric allergist, they usually carry or know about alternatives your regular pediatrician won't.

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S.G.

answers from Sacramento on

My son also has a severe egg allergy. Our pediatrician thought the MMR vaccines they had in the office were not cultured on egg, so she ordered a skin test to make sure. It turned out the vaccine was egg free, but we still waited in the office for 1/2 hour to make sure he didn't have a reaction once administered. He is now 4 and has never had a flu vaccine. We just make sure everyone else in the family gets them...we haven't had a problem so far. Good luck!

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D.T.

answers from San Francisco on

measles, mumps and rubella are not horrible childhood diseases. My mom had measles and the mumps as a child. I would just skip it and not worry about it. So many people aren't even vaccinating at all anymore - especially for diseases that are not life threatening. My parents brought my brothers and me to my cousins for a chicken pox party so we would be exposed and get over them and truly be immune for life. So I think certain vaccines aren't really necessary. You don't want the other junk that's in them anyway. (aluminum, formaldehyde) and the flu vaccine still contains MERCURY! Stay away anyway!!!

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H.H.

answers from Sacramento on

I have to ditto Yvonne in this case. I would tread carefully where vaccines are concerned considering your daughter has food allergies (which equate to gut issues). My 5-year-old daughter had food allergies early on and now has attention difficulties. She never received the MMR, I'm certain her problems would have been compounded if she had.

We are seeing incredible improvements by healing her digestive tract. We are giving her digestive enzymes and live, cultured foods & probiotics. She is also on the SCD diet (a gut healing diet). If you are interested in reading more about the link to GI disorders and autism, adhd, etc, here is an excellent resource:

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:HxIkEzpk3l0J:mindd.o...=

edited to add - the link itself doesn't work for some reason, so you will have copy the entire URL and paste it in to see the page.

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R.D.

answers from San Francisco on

There is no egg-free alternative to the MMR, as the vaccine is grown on fetal chicken cells. I, personally, wouldn't risk injecting egg cells into the body of a child w/ an egg allergy, no matter how minor it may be. Once it's in there, there's not taking it back.
That said, I'd research the stats on measles, mumps and rubella outbreaks, side effects, etc.
With modern medicine/treatments, measles is just an annoying temporary illness, mumps have a very low incidence and rubella is only life-threatening to the unborn fetus (it's given as an attempt at herd immunity to protect pregnant women who haven't kept up with their boosters)--nothing I'D see as 'worth the risk' in giving the vaccine.
It's fantastic that your pediatrician considers allergies and such when planning a vax schedule. That's a rarity these days...

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K.M.

answers from San Francisco on

My older daughter who is 4 is also pretty severely egg allergic. She throws up almost immediately when exposed to any food with egg in it. We carry Benadryl and an epi-pen with us at all times. (She has never had an anaphylactic reaction, but we are told that the allergy could become worse over time, so our allergist wanted us to be prepared.) At the time of her MMR, we were not sure about the egg allergy, and she did fine. I would have your pedi refer you to a pediatric allergist so that you can get the best opinion possible. If you are anywhere near the Walnut Creek area, we were very pleased with Dr. Schultz with Allergy and Asthma Associates. As for the flu vaccine, we did a 4 shot series in the allergists office when she was 2. We did it in office so that if she did have a serious reaction, there would be well-trained staff ready to respond. (She also has asthma, so we felt the drama was worth it to avoid the possibility of a serious flu issue.) Last year, however, she was old enough to do the nasal flu vaccine, which does not contain any egg. Good luck to you, and if you haven't found it yet, we have had very good experience with Ener-G egg substitute in baked products.

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Y.K.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi K.,
My son had a terrible reaction to the flu shot, so much so I will never let him have another one. He vomited so badly after it. He will not eat eggs anymore. I asked his Pediatrician to give him the MMR in separate shots over a period of three months and he was fine. I am from Europe and people are going back to separate shots s 3 in one is a lot.
Good luck.
Y.

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