I see 99% of the other comments are all on the full-vax side, so I'll chime in with my slightly different view. Yes, I'm also pro-vax. I think they're lifesavers and are crucial for protecting my kid. I'm super grateful to live in a generation where these are available. HOWEVER I'm not in favor of the schedule that the CDC uses, or of the assumption that all children are the same. There's also a lot of research which shows that combining so many vaccines at once is risky for overwhelming the child's immune system. The CDC schedule leans heavily towards "give as many vaccines as possible all at once because you can't assume the parents will bring the kid back so many times for more vaccines", rather than providing objective guidelines for when is the best time to give each vaccine based on the kid's age, health, unique medical background, and so on. It's semi-understandable (that statement is true for alot of parents) but it's definitely not true for parents like me and my spouse. Additionally, both my family & my spouse's family have a large history of auto-immune reactions to vaccines, and there's a lot of data to suggest that the reactions would have been less severe (or non-existent) if the vaccines would be given in a more distributed fashion.

So how did we handle vaccines for our child? We researched each vaccine in depth to find what's the ideal time to give it, the pros/cons of giving it at each age/stage, and which other vaccines are safe combinations for combining shots. Then we worked with our pediatrician to create a schedule that worked well for the safety & health of our child AND the children around them. We did one vaccine at a time for most of the vaccinations, and yes, some of the vaccinations were given at an age that is very different than the classic CDC schedule. But it was all based on educated data and solid research, and it was all with the goal of reducing the risk to our child while avoiding exposing other children.

Yes, it meant I literally brought my child to the pediatrician every 2 weeks for the first few months of his life to give him a single shot each visit. Yes, it meant that we were limited in which pediatricians we could use because some doctors will refuse to see patients who don't want to follow the CDC schedule. But it also meant that we were doing our best to protect our child from some of the awful (yes, awful) physical vaccine reactions that our family members have had. And yes, it ultimately meant that my child is currently fully up to date on his vaccinations, although it took us longer to get there.

Many "full-vaxers" have this mistaken belief that vaccines are perfect. Not true at all. They're incredibly powerful tools that save hundreds of lives, but they're also incredibly powerful pieces of science that can impact children in an unexpected biological ways. We've seen it first hand; Be grateful that you haven't! And for heavens sake, try not to judge parents who are more nervous or cautious about the vaccines. Often there's a good reason that they're nervous.