Immunisations

I work very part time as a practice nurse ,but have given many Men B immunisations . Yes it is new and we give it on it's own in the left leg so any side effects can be monitored . I have had a few parents who report a hard lump and irritability for 2-3 days ,but most have no side effects . Parents are advised to give paracetamol for 24 hrs even if no fever or redness, and if there is -for up to 72 hrs . I have had parents whose children are not included in the age group ask if they have it done privately ! I must add that my children both got whooping cough in the 70's as in those days it was not recommended to give if there was a family history of convulsions . They were very poorly and took months to get over it . A little bit of discomfort is worth it , as all preventable diseases especially meningitis are such dreadful things Don't think for one minute these diseases have gone away ,if immunisation levels go down the disease will be back !

I think the figures speak for themselves. As an example,before the polio vaccination was introduced in 1955,there were up to 8000 cases of polio per year in the UK,with about 750 resulting in death,and many more in permanent paralysis. Since then,the number of cases has steadily declined,and in 1988,there were no cases of polio at all reported in the UK.

Following my earlier post, have just read that meningitis in babies has fallen by 40% thanks to jab.

littlefierce There is no such thing as a completely safe vaccine. This is recognised by the government.

If you’re severely disabled as a result of a vaccination against certain diseases, you could get a one-off tax-free payment of £120,000. This is called a Vaccine Damage Payment.

I doubt anyone on this thread would deny that vaccination is fir the general good. Please take that on board. But spare a thought for those that had their child vaccinated and were left with a severely damaged child, or worse.

I agree. The minute we get lazy or sniffy about immunisation s is when children die again. I remember getting worried with the whooping cough shot.when my first was young. The doctor told me that in Jamaica she had looked after tiny babies with it and that it was heart breaking. Never regret having immunisations. They are not just about one person's health but that of the whole community.

Bebe4. As I understand it, the pneumonia jab is for life but the flu virus mutates each year and immunisation is therefore only for that year. I sincerely hope you don't catch flu or pneumonia. I, for one, will not take the risk of missing out on protection.

" their relevance in a society which has good living conditions and diet."
Neither of which will prevent infection from a communicable disease.

Why is this even a question? Vaccines are safe. Vaccines don't cause autism. The amount of woo sites online are directly responsible imo for the rise of privileged anti vax parents who will put everyone else's child at risk to support their half baked philosophy. 'Research' consists of them googling to find answers that support their prejudice. REAL research involves years & years of randomised controlled double blind trials. In this instance we do NOT know better than the experts. Babies too young to be immunised & ill children with compromised immune systems are having their lives put at risk by these selfish parents. People in 3rd world countries are crying out for vaccinations & think we are INSANE to refuse. Rant over - as you can tell it's a subject I feel strongly about.

Speaking personally, i am 73 and i will not have the flu vaccination. I had it once about 3 yrs ago and the nurse persuaded me to have the pneumonia vaccine at the same time by saying that one vaccination was protection for life. I have since discovered that it only provides protection for one year.
Being that I have never had pneumonia in my life I don't see how protection for that particular year made any difference and thanks to the vaccine,I now possibly have aluminium and other unpleasant metals floating about in my blood stream.

Calder i agree with you, the irony is that many people, by not being prepared to take the very small risk of one thing, in this case vaccination, end up in putting themselves and their family at the far greater risk of something worse, in this case diseases like whooping cough, measles or meningitis.

The problem is most people do not understand how to calculate probabilities, or understand them and all of us - and I definitely include myself, have a tendency to reach conclusions based on anecdotal evidence

Immunisations are a wonderful thing, even if there is a tiny risk attached. As a previous poster remarked, just take a walk around a Victorian cemetery and count all the tiny graves. How awful it would be to return to those bad days.

Being rather old, I can recall several schoolfriends who died of diptheria and polio, and one who became paralysed and mentally damaged from measles. It was all so sad, and who knows what great things they might have achieved if they hadn't been cut down in their youth?

I may add that though I don't deny it could happen, in a long career in nursing I have never met a single child who is vaccine-damaged!

I think it's always been accepted that there are some children who, because of medical problems, should not be vaccinated. But the ideal is that there will be a very small chance of them catching the disease because of the universal vaccination rate of everyone else.

Sorry, that should be 'said he would not vaccinate....'

A very interesting thread. I kind of have a foot in both camps. None of my own dc were vaccinated against Whooping Cough. We followed medical advice which was concerned about a history of fits on both sides of our family. When our own GP said he would not his own child against WC in our circumstances, we felt we'd made thrift decision. Subsequently, my ds1 had Whooping Cough and is now asthmatic but then so are his three siblings, who didn't have Whooping Cough. I'm not sure what to make of that!

I had Whooping Cough as a child, and I was ill for a number of weeks but I don't think it left me with any long term issues. My parents both smoked anyway so I'm not sure how you can disentangle one from the other.

I believe the current vaccine for WC is different and safer than the old one so I'd probably let my dc have it nowadays,. They've had all other vaccines and my youngest has been a pin cushion over the years due to living in tropical countries and now being a trainee medic, she's had the lot!

My but am pretty old now but vividly remember all the childhood illnesses and we are lucky to have some way to prevent them now. Measles, whooping cough and my sister died of meningitis at 15. My advice is to take all the preventative vaccinations available. Even flu can still be a killer. But it is still up to the parents.

I totally agree with Luckygirl. It's not just about protecting your child, it's about protecting society at large. I had measles as a child and remember it to this day. It is not just a childhood illness it can be a killer! I find it hard to believe that in this day and age the need for immunisation is still being discussed! Rant over.

Oh gosh. A don't know how this thread has made me feel. Am I a panic stricken Gran because we decided to offer to pay for the Meningitis B for our four grandkids. We are not wealthy but saw it as a way we could help with what to us is a frightening prospect. Our offer was very grateful my accepted. The youngest was off colour for three days but I think the peace of mind outweighs that and they will be having round 2. A friends son got Meningitis aged 19 and was as ill you can be without dying. It robbed him of a sparkling career in musical theatre.

From personal experience, I can tell you that failure to take up the whooping cough vaccine, if the child subsequently catches the disease, will have a negative impact on their lung function for the rest of their lives.

I had whooping cough as a pre-teen in the early 1960s and was very ill for months - since which time every chest infection I get requires oral steroids and antibiotics because my lungs are so compromised as a result of the illness.

As young parents in the 1970's exH and I after much agonising decided not to allow our three youngsters to be immunised, given the conflicting advice about safety being toted at the time. Bad mistake. They contracted whooping cough one after another and it was six months before they recovered. Now as adults, they have lungs which can't cope with chest infections, either...all are also asthmatic and I bitterly regret not having the courage to have them immunised. My two youngest boys, born much later, had every vaccine going.

Yes of course one has to accept that there is a small risk with vaccines, for a very unlucky few...but believe me, the consequences of the diseases which these immunisations protect against, are life changing, in very many cases.

At the end of the day it's a personal decision of course, but trust me, you would not dither, if you had heard a young child with whooping cough struggling to breathe through the thick suffocating mucous on their lungs. It's horrifying, frightening, exhausting and very upsetting for both the child and his or her parents...and it can go on for weeks and weeks with no let up.

Thankfully, due to the immunisation programme, this can be avoided. Given my time over, I'd be first in the queue to get my children protected.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgpfNScEd3M

I don't know how to say this without sounding rude - but if the OPs DD is having palpitations because her child has suffered a (relatively) mild reaction to a vaccine, heaven help her if said child actually caught one of these frightening diseases..

Quite right Nightowl those who have had children disabled (or worse) through vaccine damage are understandably nervous about repeating the experience with subsequence babies/children.

Yes, vaccination is an amazing development in reducing illness and deaths from disease, we all agree on that, but it does carry a risk however infitessimal.

I too remember the horror of Polio, I was at school with a boy who had calipers on his legs following a bout of Polio.

I also worked with a lady who nearly lost her baby son to Meningitis - luckily he survived but is profoundly deaf.

I am in favour of vaccination & know my DD had by GS vaccines when required & he will continue to have any further ones.

I am sure many parents agonise of this decision, my daughter had to check whether my GS could have certain vaccines as she had Epilepsy as a child & there is a risk but she went ahead satisfied that he would be ok.

The temporary soreness and mild fevers that some children exhibit are WAY less horrific than these diseases. A little girl in my kindergarten year died of diphtheria. I had polio as a child, was not left with much paralysis, but now, 62 years later, I have Post Polio Syndrome. (Google it, it's not nice). I have to wear a brace on one leg, am scheduled for surgery on the same leg, and have all the other symptoms of Post Polio Syndrome. And Polio is still around......it only takes one infected person entering a country where there are a whole lot of anti-vaxxers to start an epidemic.

when there is an localised epidemic parents who have not had their children vaccinated are to blame

Being 'poorly ' for 3 days as a result of menb vaccination is nothing compared to the terrible possible affects of meningitis! Imo vaccinate every time!

For what it's worth Speldnan I am of the same mind as you. Vaccines have been a wonderful development and we are indeed very lucky to have them. But they do carry risks, not just of a sore arm and raised temperature. The government does not operate a compensation scheme for those irreparably damaged by vaccines for nothing. If your child happens to be one of the ones who is disabled or worse as a result of vaccination these fears cannot be so easily dismissed. It pays to be well informed on this subject.