Whooping Cough Vaccine Controversy 1980's

DD1 was vaccinated, and I was not worried, but our new doctor advised against it for DD2.
She had whooping cough when she was three. It went on for weeks and we hardly slept. I’ve never been so scared in my life-I thought she would die and it would have been my fault. DD1 didn’t catch it despite being in close contact, which made me feel even more guilty.

It was only after my two sons, born 1971 and 73 had had all their inoculations that I heard about the controversy over whooping cough vaccine. When my DS2, aged just 2, was in hospital to have surgery on his bowel, I met another mum whose little boy had only recently started having seizures, but it was some time, after I'd lost touch, that I heard about the controversy and put two and two together. If mine had been a bit younger...

I have an idea the whooping cough jab was being linked with autism. I know the MMR jab in the 90's certainly was. Autism usually shows itself around the 18 month development stage and is the time when these inoculations were administered. Anti-vaxxers were adding 2+2 and coming up with anything except 4.

Genty

Thousands of babies may have been mistakenly injected with incorrect vaccines in the 1970s, The Observer has discovered.

Confidential records belonging to drug giant GlaxoWellcome show three-month-old infants were potentially given cholera jabs instead of triple vaccines for preventing whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus.

The company announced last night it would be launching an immediate investigation into the mix-up and the Department of Health also promised to take up the matter. Dr Gordon Cook, an expert in tropical medicine, said it was 'potentially a very serious problem'.

The mix-up is the latest in a series of disclosures about GlaxoWellcome in the 1970s. In July The Observer revealed that thousands of British babies had been given whooping cough vaccine that had not passed crucial safety tests, while claims that sheep and cattle vaccines had been given to Irish babies were blamed on a clerical error.

That's a 20 year old report about something that happened 50 years ago, in a company that doesn't exist any more.

www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/dec/09/medicalscience.highereducation

Yes, I remember it well. My kids were born in 75 and 77. I decided against the vaccination for whooping cough because of the controversy. I had whooping cough myself in the 50s and survived and I felt that if I had allowed my children to be vaccinated for whooping cough and they became brain damaged I would blame myself whereas if they caught whooping cough it was an ‘act of God’. They both got it at age 18 months and 3 and it was a nightmare. However, they both recovered well. They both had the measles jab and my son still got measles and was extremely ill!

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If I could go back in time, I would have let DD have the vaccination.

Callistemon

Pertussis Vaccine Scare:
academic.oup.com/shm/article/30/2/429/2669669

Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

My son was born in 78. Due to a low Apgar rate we were advised not to give him the Pertussis vaccine. There was an outbreak of whooping cough later that year which he managed to avoid but caught it during the 81/82 outbreak when I was pregnant with our second child. He fell ill in the September of 1981 and wasn't totally clear until the following April. He landed up in hospital at one point, needless to say, baby number 2 had the full range of vaccinations.

My dd born 1975 had the vacine,still got horrendous whooping cough that lasted 3 weeks solid.

Yes, I remember. My friend didn't have her son vaccinated because of seizures.

My eldest ds had the vaccine but because my twins had eczema I was advised by GP not to have it.
At a year old they both had whooping cough and were very poorly for at least 6 weeks.

I had my eldest three have whatever vaccinations were recommended, My twins were born in 1975, and when they were due for their jabs, it was the height of the vaccination scare. I could not make up my mind - about the whooping cough one - still undecided when I got to Doctors. Said, I was thinking of not having this for them, and waited for him to argue with me (I would have given in if he had), but he did not,

So, they did not have this and I so much regretted it a couple of years later when they both suffered with this horrible illness. Fortunately, they did both come through with no long term effects, but I felt so guilty that I had put them through that.

M youngest (b.1977) had all vaccinations, and all my g.children have anything offered accepted with heartfelt thanks to the wonderful scientists who produce these.

So much anti-vac propaganda is so very very false. That dreadful 'doctor' whose totally, deliberately false so-called investigations caused so many children to suffer and even die, due to them not having the triple MMR. To my mind, he should have been charged with causing suffering and death.

I worked for many years with adults with learning disabilities. We did have one client born in late 60s/early 70s who had a seizure after the whooping cough vaccine and whose disabilities were apparently officially attributed to that. That was the only one I came across. At that time however there were many attributed to the mothers having German measles. Chicken Pox can also have a similar affect,I dont know why we dont routinely vaccinate against it. For some reason I never had it as a child but caught it as an adult when it can have serious implications. Fortunately I had already had my daughters . I know my daughter was asked about chicken pox when she was pregnant.

My three children were born between 1977 and 1982. I remember clearly at the time I was concerned about the whooping cough vaccine and discussed it with my GP. We were advised that it was best avoided as two of them had eczema. We didn't have the advantage of the internet then but I did try to find out as much as I could. My GP at the time suggested a homeopathic option which I finally decided was less harmful, whether or not it was effective. He was able to prescribe it on the NHS. Otherwise they had all vaccinations available.
None of them ever seemed to catch anything except for chicken pox all within hours of each other and after visiting a cousin who had it! One had a slight measles rash later after his measles vaccination and he also developed one sided mumps which was very mild. We joked that he just had a mump! It must be very hard for parents now with all the conflicting information that is being peddled on the internet.

Thank you everyone. I know it was definitely the whooping cough one as the MMR didn't come in until around the 90's. As you say, it's nearly 40 years ago now & as they now offer it to the expectant mum & then the baby when they have their other vaccinations it's presumably changed during that time! I'm all for vaccines & always have been, my experience is very similar to Smileless2012 & not a decision we took lightly. My daughter has also looked into this a bit more this evening & found an article which seems to suggest the whole cell vaccine was replaced and they now use an acellular vaccine in part due to concerns about vaccine induced seizures & also the scandal in the 80's that led to them changing it. Apparently the new vaccine has been routinely given to pregnant women in the uk since Oct 2012 and a study of 20,000 women found no evidence of risks to pregnancy or babies.

Fluoride drops were handed out free at the Baby Clinics!

We were made to feel as if we were bad parents if we didn't give them fluoride drops, didn't put them on their stomachs to sleep and didn't get them into a 4 hourly feeding routine.

Not having family around I was anxious to do everything right so listened to the Health Visitors and GP.

I too remember it well. No internet in those days and I spent hours in the medical library at the nearby university hospital reading and cross-referencing papers, and checking things on the microfiche... I even looked at the major investors of the various vaccines and the other roles they held, where in the world they were used and so on. It was a mammoth task with an infant in one hand!

Don't forget, it was a different age. It was also round about then that fluoride (a waste product) was put in drinking water in some areas to help with caries... they had previously thought adding lead might be a good idea as that also helped teeth... fluoride of course was better and cheaper! Thank goodness.

We really struggled to make a decision. We both read loads, talked to medics in the family and our own GP.

I was only saying to my daughter yesterday how I wouldn't want to go through all that worry about doing the right thing for my family again!

Parenting is truly a very very difficult job.

Sons born in 1977 and 80 only had the double vaccination without whooping cough because of the scare about brain damage. Then in the winter of 83 they both had whooping cough at the same time. It was awful, especially as I was pregnant and had an adult version, although I had been immunised against it as a baby. My daughter was born in the following April and I made sure she had the triple after that experience. Although I remember it being a very worrying time for a couple of days after the jab. ?

My daughter was born in 1971 and had all the vaccines. However, when my son came along a couple of years later we were advised by our GP not to give him the whooping cough vaccine because he had suffered from siezures. Later, when the children were around 5 and 7 they both contracted whooping cough, so now of course I'm wondering whether my daughter did in fact have the correct vaccine. I will never know!

My son was born in 1972 and had all the vaccines offered, never gave it a thought. My daughter was born in 1975 and there was extensive TV coverage about the dangers of the Whooping Cough vaccine which frightened me to death so she wasn’t vaccinated. She got whooping cough when she was 7 years old and it was horrendous. I wonder how little children survive it. Thankfully I have never had to make such a decision again.

My daughter was born in 1980 when the controversy was at its height. There was no question for us: she had her shot.

Nothing is ever perfect and there were undoubtedly cases of brain damage caused by the whooping cough (pertussis). Of course if you see publicity given to these cases in the media your natural instinct is to think that if it could happen to the child on the telly then it could just as easily happen to your child. This is a well-known con of course, one on which for example the national lottery runs ("winning the lottery can't be that unlikely because somebody wins nearly every week"). But the number cases of vaccine-caused brain damage were very small not only in comparison to the number of vaccines administered, but in comparison to the number of cases of brain damage caused by whooping cough itself. Ever seen a child turning blue with uncontrolled coughing and unable to breathe?

Nothing is completely without risks, but if you balance the risks the scales come down firmly on the side of the vaccine. You know it makes sense.

I had premature twins in 1980 born at 28wks gestation with health issues. I can distinctly remember sitting on the ward in Great Ormond Street Hospital when two Professors were disagreeing about them having whooping cough injection. They didn’t have the injection. My daughter caught it whilst pregnant and was very poorly.

SueDonim DD caught it in 1975/76; she must have played with other toddlers as we used to meet informally and the children across the road all caught it.
I was expecting DC2 and up most nights with the poor child whooping and coughing.
As I said previously my GP said it "had been eradicated".
Silly old duffer.

I remember this clearly as my sons were born in 75 & 79. I particularly recall hearing an item on Woman’s Hour about it. Neither of my sons and later, neither of my daughters had the pertussis vaccine as there is a history of fits on both sides of our family.

No 1 son caught Whooping Cough, in around ‘82, when he was seven, and I see from Callistemon’s link that there was an outbreak that year. However, we knew no one who had WC and ds passed it on to no one, despite it being over the Christmas/NY period when we’d seen lots of people. At that time, no one has suggested he had WC, the doctor said was just the remains of a virus and he could also go to school if he felt well enough!

I think the pertussis vaccine may have been reformulated since the 70’s.

Confidential records belonging to drug giant GlaxoWellcome show three-month-old infants were potentially given cholera jabs instead of triple vaccines for preventing whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus

I thought the whooping cough vaccine was given separately to the one for diphtheria.
Measles vaccination was given later, at about 15 months.
If she had a cholera vaccination by mistake, that may be fortuitous as she has travelled in the Far East.

Routine smallpox vaccination ended in 1971.