The reason for vaccinations

sparklefizz

I agree with your post and indeed while I am not suggesting Homeopathy in place of vaccinations I also know that has it's place and usefulness.

BTW all you sceptics it does very well for animals like horses. So not really a placebo really either.

Oopsminty wrote:
Herd immunity against measles requires that 90-95% of the entire population are immune

I agree. This is about the health of the public as a whole group where dangerous diseases may lurk , or not , as the case my be.

Dangerous infectious diseases are threatening when fewer individuals are focuses of the infections.

Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children do not just put their chldren at risk, their decision also puts other children's health and, possibly, lives at risk.

True MOnica. I am old enough to remember measles as a potential killer. I was very ill with it myself. I also remember iron lungs for polio victims. TB was also rife, hence the already mentioned notices about spitting on buses.

I don’t think there are fever hospitals nor TB hospitals any more - results of vaccination campaigns.

Back in the early 1950s, both my younger sisters, the youngest, only a few months old caught whooping cough, the baby was very severely ill and I can remember hearing the doctor say to my mother, 'one more coughing fit like that and she will need to go to hospital'. The elder had it exceptionally badly and it was three months before she was well enough to return to school.

I was spared because when the doctor came to see my sisters, I had yet to get it. The whooping cough vaccine had come into use but was not yet universal, but the doctor returned a few hours later to vaccinate me against the disease so I did not get it.

My closest friend had whooping cough, which damaged her lungs and ever since she has lived in fear of getting respiratory infections and I have lost count of the number of times she had had to be hospitalised, some times for weeks at a time when she has had them.

As a child in the early 1930s my mother had scarlet fever and was sent to a fever hospital to await recovery. This can now be sorted with anti-biotics.

I had measles as a small baby and didn’t realise how dangerous it could be until recently. My mother insured I had all the vaccinations that were available via the local health clinic. It was just the expected thing to do and most children seemed to receive the vaccinations. I never knew of anyone suffering disabling illnesses.

My children were all vaccinated with the exception of my youngest. She suffered from extremely bad chest infections and I was concerned for her wellbeing. I discussed this with our doctor and she was given all vaccinations except whooping cough. Fortunately, it was never an issue but I was glad at the time that the MMR at that time was not the only choice. DD2 contracted meningitis at 15 months but with modern medicine she made a good recovery.

Whilst visiting family in OZ, a child at the local school contracted whooping cough. Every family were advised to update their immunity. Not bothering or refusing this puts both the individual and the community at risk.

I am of the opinion that unless there are contr-indications all children should receive appropriate, life saving vaccinations. These should be given as a matter of course. However in some cases, it should be recognised that vaccines such MMR should also be available individually, so that personal circumstances can be taken into account.

Tweedle 24 wrote:

I don’t think there are fever hospitals nor TB hospitals any more - results of vaccination campaigns.

I nursed in a hospital for acute infectious fevers in late 40s. Antibiotic therapy had a lot to do with their demise.

Now antibiotics are less effective due to farmers use of them for making food animals grow faster, and more people are in substandard homes, we will see the need for that sort of isolation hospital again.

Alexa you are quite right about antibiotics but, vaccinations also had quite an effect. A lot of the nasty, now almost extinct, diseases are viral rather than bacterial.

It is not just farming either. Antibiotics have been far too often used unnecessarily. They were prescribed far too readily and, worse than that, the course was often not completed. I had a friend who, when prescribed antibiotics, would take half a course and keep the other half for when she felt it would do her good. This was quite common.

Tweedle, I agree. Is there a system in place now to prevent patients wrong use of antibiotics?

When I first went into nursing in 1955 I was vaccinated against TB after a failed Mantoux test. I didn't have an immunity against TB.
Then I had a smallpox inoculation, which really hurt for a few days. Yet I was on a children's infection ward where there was whooping cough and yellow jaundice and although I'd had measles as a child, there were children who were suffering from complications of measles.

I suppose all these germs gave me further immunity against what was going around in the 50's-----except Asian flu which kept me in bed for a fortnight. The staff were dropping like flies as were many patients before I took ill.

Looking back things have improved immensely so far as vaccinations go as the " normal " cases of childhood illnesses have mutated over the years which does call for these vaccination programmes.

Alexa I don’t know about a system as such but, medical staff are reluctant to give antibiotics now unless necessary. Patients are reminded to complete their course but, I don’t think this can be policed.

Alternative therapies are alternative because they have not passed rigorous controlled double blind trials. I prefer to put my trust in scientific evidence rather than random personal experience, and it is without doubt that immunisation has saved millions of lives.

We have become complacent in developed countries but as has been mentioned measles is now again on the rise. It is nonsense to say that MMR imms over burden children's immune system because children are bombarded daily with many bacteria and viruses.

I don't really understand the thinking with antibiotics nowadays. Thankfully I've not needed them for years but friends have had them for 'water' infections. The doctors have prescribed three day courses of AB's but every single one of my friends has then experienced a resurgence of the infection and required another, longer course.

Likewise, my 4yo GS had tonsillitis earlier this year. It's standard now to not give AB's for it as it's thought to be viral. He was still pretty ill after ten days so a three day course of ABs was given by the GP. He improved a lot when on them but deteriorated rapidly when the course ended because the infection came roaring back. In addition, he developed pneumonia and was then rushed to hospital for oxygen and IV antibiotics. It was such a distressing time for them all, and his mum developed pneumonia too!

The situation with AB's is so confusing to those of us without specialist knowledge.

Quite a few people think that the MMR is too much for small babies, especially as they are now routinely given 2 more vaccines alongside this on the same day.

Whether their thinking is right or wrong there ought to be on offer the individual vaccines even if they have to pay. The old argument that ‘they won’t remember to come back for boosters etc.’ doesn’t hold water as parents who feel this strongly and wish for individual vaccines most certainly would complete the course.