More than 90% of U.S. children are injected with alpha-gal-bearing mammalian gelatin before school entry, raising the possibility of direct sensitization or immune priming before a later tick bite.
The Vaccine Connection
For years, tick bites have largely been assumed to explain Alpha-Gal Syndrome. But that explanation leaves several major questions unanswered. Tens of millions of Americans are bitten by ticks, yet only a minority become sensitized and only a fraction of those individuals develop clinical disease. Even the amount of alpha-gal actually delivered by a feeding tick has never been measured.
At the same time, more than 90% of U.S. children are exposed to alpha-gal-bearing mammalian gelatin through routine vaccination. A child completing the two-dose MMR and varicella schedules receives approximately 54 mg of mammalian gelatin by injection before school entry.