China Child Vaccinations

China child vaccinations are given to your child while he/she is still in China.

Although “China has vaccination coverage of 85-90% (as of 1991)" ¹, we were not sure if this also applied to children in orphanages.

We received a China child vaccinations history at the time of our daughter’s adoption in China. However, because we aren’t familiar with Chinese writing, we had a difficult time deciphering the dates when our daughter’s were supposedly given to her.

The vaccinations history we were given appeared to record some of her China child vaccinations as being given on a date after we adopted her. Therefore, once we got home with her we started her US child vaccinations from scratch.

There is some controversy surrounding the safety of vaccinations especially in infants and young children in the US. The mercury compound thimersol used as a preservative in vaccines is at the heart of the debate.

Fortunately, thimersol was removed from vaccines in 2002 ², so this became less of a concern for us. For those children who received child vaccinations before the mercury was removed, fears of autism are very real.

We gave our daughter’s China child vaccinations history to our pediatrician. In spite of the possible link between autism and vaccinations, we followed her recommendation to start the vaccinations over from the beginning.

We didn’t worry about our daughter being older than the suggested starting age for child vaccinations. Our pediatrician followed the CDC's US child vaccinations catch-up schedule and was able to get our daughter’s vaccinations back on track.

A word of caution about China child vaccinations.

China is considered an industrialized nation. However, tuberculosis is more prevalent in China than in the US, although it is on the rise in the US.

In an effort to combat tuberculosis, many parts of China still give its citizens the Bovine Calmette-Guerrin (BCG) vaccine as part of its China child vaccinations program.

China, along with other Asian countries, gives this vaccine to children in hopes of decreasing tuberculosis infection in the population.

However, “The protection rate of inoculation with BCG vaccine is only 50 percent, and most of patients with tuberculosis had a history of BCG vaccine inoculation (in China).” ³

Since its protection against tuberculosis is not reliable, the CDC recommends giving the BCG vaccine to only two groups of people. They are as follows:

"1. BCG vaccine is strongly recommended for infants and children with negative tuberculin skin tests who:

(1) are at high risk of intimate and prolonged exposure to persistently untreated or ineffectively treated patients with infectious pulmonary tuberculosis, cannot be removed from the source of exposure, and cannot be placed on long-term preventive therapy, or

(2) are continuously exposed to persons with tuberculosis who have bacilli resistant to both isoniazid and rifampin.

2. BCG vaccination is also recommended for tuberculin-negative infants and children in groups in which the rate of new infections exceeds 1% per year and for whom the usual surveillance and treatment programs have been attempted but are not operationally feasible.

These groups include persons without regular access to health care, those for whom usual health care is culturally or socially unacceptable, or groups who have demonstrated an inability to effectively use existing accessible care.

In view of the recent outbreaks of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, these recommendations are currently under review."

Source: www.cdc.gov

China still includes the BCG vaccine in its China child vaccination program in an attempt to curb the infection among its people even if its effect is unpredictable.

As Chinese researchers state, “BCG still would be…an important content in our national TB control before the emergence of the new and more efficient vaccine.”⁴

If your child received the BCG vaccine while in China as part of his or her China child vaccinations, this can have implications for his or her future.

More immediately, he or she will likely have a positive ppd (tuberculosis) test when tested at your pediatrician’s office.

Diagnosis of a positive ppd means your child will begin a course of treatment recommended by the CDC and your pediatrician.

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Although many orphanages give a China child vaccinations history with the paperwork you receive at the time of adoption, most health care professionals recommend following the US child vaccination schedule once you return home with your child.

If your child is older, the schedule can be modified so that your child receives all the pertinent vaccinations.

As with any decision, ask a lot of questions and research.

Because some parents fear a possible link between autism and vaccinations, a greater number of children are not receiving the recommended vaccinations. Their fears are understandable.

We stress careful analysis of the research as well as asking questions before a decision is made regarding your new child’s vaccinations.

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References: (1) Indian Pediatr. 1991 Dec;28(12):1509-12. (2) Zwillich T. Activists Allege Influence Over Vaccine Studies. 2006 (3) Zhonghua Er Ke Za Zhi. 2004; 42(12):932-5 (ISSN: 0578-1310) (4) Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2004 Oct 17;84(20):1678-80 (5) Pediatrics. 2001 Sep;108(3):608-12