Can frequent vaccinations really cause immune paralysis?

Information has appeared in the media that too frequent vaccination, less than a year after the first vaccination, can lead to a serious complication - immune paralysis - and the development of secondary immunodeficiency. We decided to check whether such fears were justified.

Two specialists warned about the danger of developing immune paralysis: general practitioner, clinical pharmacologist Andrei Kondrakhin and president of the Russian Scientific Society of Immunologists, scientific director of the Institute of Immunology and Physiology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valery Chereshnev. First reportedthat it is best to re-vaccinate no earlier than a year after the last vaccination, and second — that revaccination more often than six months later will cause immunological paralysis. Kondrakhin's words were spread Lenta.ru, TV channel "360°" And News.ru, and Chereshnev’s opinion was shared TASS And "Rossiyskaya Gazeta".

It is immediately worth noting that in ICD-10 a diagnosis such as immune paralysis has not been recorded. The English term (immune paralysis) is more widespread, however applies V mostly to the state emerging as a result sepsis. Eat row publications, describing the immune paralysis due to severe coronavirus infections. Moreover, Google search until October 19, 2021 in general doesn't show almost no information about immune paralysis - there is only description it in cats infected with the immunodeficiency virus.

Immunologist Vladimir Bolibok suggests that the term “immune paralysis” in science appeared, when Alexander Bezredka “in 1906 came up with a way to deplete the immune response by administering horse serum against diphtheria.” In this way, the scientist was able to prevent anaphylactic shock, which could have accompanied the administration of the drug. That is, immune paralysis even then described not a condition resulting from too frequent vaccinations, but a way to “mute” the immune response in order to give the body the opportunity to produce antibodies. “But to extrapolate the Bezredka phenomenon to the fact that supposedly frequent administration of vaccines causes immune paralysis is to call white black” - adds immunologist

It is also worth noting the fact that several different vaccines are administered to a person in the first days and months of life, but immune paralysis does not occur in infants. According to the national calendar of preventive vaccinations, a child in the first year of life receives up to 17 vaccines (including revaccinations). Moreover, adults are also allowed to be vaccinated with several vaccines at the same time, with the exception of BCG. Rospotrebnadzor separately pronounces: “Simultaneous vaccination is not accompanied by suppression of the immune response. Our body constantly encounters a huge number of antigens, providing protection to the internal environment; when even one single microorganism penetrates into this internal environment, it produces dozens of types of antibodies to each of the pathogen proteins. In mixed infections, this number increases many times, so the response to the simultaneous administration of several vaccines does not create an emergency situation.”

Frequent vaccination also cannot cause secondary immunodeficiency. The causes of the pathology are good studied - these are diabetes mellitus, liver failure, hepatitis, aplastic anemia, some cancers, graft-versus-host disease, chemotherapy drugs, immunosuppressants, some bacterial, mycobacterial and viral infections (including the new coronavirus infection). Vaccination among these reasons not listed. At the same time, specialists separately stipulate the need to vaccinate people with primary and secondary immunodeficiencies - albeit with some exceptions (in particular, live vaccines should be avoided), as well as the need for herd immunity for the safety of such people.

According to the latest data, revaccination against coronavirus in Russia recommend carried out six months after the introduction of the first component. Israeli doctors formulated it's like "five months after the second dose", in USA optimal time counts eight months, and in Hungary - four. To date (while revaccination in Russia began in June, and in Israel in July), there is no data on the occurrence of immune paralysis after a booster dose, received millions people.

Thus, fears that frequent vaccination may cause immune paralysis or other life-threatening immune conditions are unfounded. The national vaccination calendar also provides for the simultaneous administration of several vaccines, as well as relatively short periods between them.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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2. Is it true that vaccinations cause autoimmune diseases?