immunization - scary or what?

RE: immunization - scary or what?

Hiya
this is such a difficult one because i dont really like the idea of jabbing my kids either but I have gone for the single vaccines and not the mmr....

my reasoning.
If one of my children was exposed to say measles from someone older who had not been vaccinated because of the parents standpoint and my child was one of those that reacted badly ie brain damage or persistant vegetative state and effectively lost to me, i cant imagine what i would feel towards that parent.

i think it is important for the girls to have rubella as the risk to foetus.
I think it equally important for the boys to have mumps

both these things can be very distressing the older the child gets or even in adult hood and have larger consequences. Its the lesser of two evils for me.

I do not agree with filling their little bodies with lots of jabs at once as i think there system can go into overload but will have the singles as I will not risk my children to more serious health problems especially when i have one that has been ill for nearly a year anyway, he could not afford to catch anything from another child without it having an sizeable impact on him.....so i vaccinate to keep him safe from the children that are not, if there was a higher uptake then maybe different but he would still have had the mumps....

My three year old has had all three singles and my 20 months old has two left.

T
x

RE: immunization - scary or what?

This is something that I think all parents agonise over.

After much thought, research and talking to many people, all three of my children have had ALL the vaccinations, including BCG, as my in-laws are back and forth from India on a regular basis, and that exposes them to the TB virus.

I spoke to some health care professionals - including nurses who were mothers, who told me there was just as much danger with the single vaccines, as these were unregulated by the government, and were often shipped into the country in unrefrigerated containers.

On the other side, I knew a mother who was in hospital with her child (Great Ormond Street) when a child was rushed in following a reaction to vaccine, and died.

It is a toughy, you need to weigh up the pros and cons, and when you feel happy yourself, you make a decision.

We only do what we think is best as a parent!

Karen x

RE: immunization - scary or what?

Thanks TigerBee and Karen for your replies.

Hmmm, I still worry about it all, especially in relation to the amount of influence the multinational pharmaceutical companies have in the States and increasingly in Europe. They know the ears to bend to put through the laws they need and their aim I'm afraid is not primarily the health of their customers. It is their own financial health that they care about.

Talking about the the combined MMR that we have here, I read a while ago about some investigations done (though the findings were quashed) about the alarming incidence of a really unpleasant measles like disease amongst 18yr old Americans, who were the first batch of one year olds to have the same MMR that we have here. Our first lots of "immunees" have yet to reach 18. I still don't know whether I'm right about what I've done, but I remember being harrangued in a hospital by a young doctor (who was in the process of putting a cannula in my daughter's hand) about my selfishness. His words were, "Parents have to accept that there will be some casualties" (of the MMR) " but they should have their children immunized for the common good". Clearly not a parent himself, and I was not able to say what I wanted because of the needle situation with my daughter, and I didn't want to frighten her with my cross response.

My sister lives in the States and they have been terrified by various administrations into having children immunized against chicken pox. On one occasion I told her that one of my children had it, and she gasped, then checked herself saying sorry, she had lived in the States too long. You can't get your children into the state school system without proof of immunization, my sister says. I really don't think IMHO that chicken pox is a serious illness in the vast majoity of cases, although I know there are always rare exceptions. If my own un-immmunized daughter had contracted measles while she had leukaemia the consequences might have been fatal, and I'm sure I could not have lived with myself if that had been the cause of her death. (Luckily she had had chicken pox). Measles can be nasty in healthy children too I do know, but not usually. I don't know of anyone personally who has had a bad reaction to it (including myself). Having measles gives you immunity for life and it can be passed on to babies in utero. The measles vaccine does not make the same promise. How much have we been frightened by propaganda? And what is the truth of the situation? I wish I knew.

I'm sorry to be contentious but I worry about how much public policy has to do with the influence of these very rich, very powerful companies. Our own prime minister was not going to have his son vaccinated with the MMR combination, and only did so after public pressure. What does he know or at least suspect?

Increasingly in the States doctors are waking up to the fact of how much they are the puppets of the drug companies. If anyone is interested there is an article in the Ecologist about an organization called No Free Lunch, which aims to counter some of the pressure put on doctors to peddle wares possibly at the expense of the patient. The link is:

[DLMURL] http://www.theecologist.org/article.html?article=480 [/DLMURL]

If the link doesn't work, the website is

I'm sorry, I have really got on my soapbox, and I hope my thoughts do not upset anyone. I'd love to know what others think.

mamancinq xx

P.S. I totally agree with TigerBee about the rubella. I had this at 12 and I think all girls should (at puberty). Not so sure about mumps, I think, could certainly be wrong, that the risk to boys is not as big.

RE: immunization - scary or what?

I am amazed about the chickenpox/USA thing.

My eldest daughter is both mentally and physically disabled, and has lung issues. When my other two children caught chickenpox last year one after the other (aged 9 and 5 at the time) I was dreading Amber getting it too - although at the same time I wanted her to have a normal childhood disease whilst she was still a child, not when she was older.

I went to my doctors for advise to see if there was anything she could have to prevent it. He told me that she would be at no more risk than any other child, and that if she did get it and I was worrried, I could take her back. I was both relieved and annoyed! I am the mother who doesnt "do" antibiotics, after all!

She did indeed get it - and badly. She was smothered in spots - not a patch of white skin down one side of her trunk, and covered absolutely everywhere. She was poorly, but we kept her dosed with calpol, and smothered in calamine lotion etc. She bounced back fairly quickly, and I was left relieved that I hadnt given her the Aciclivor (?sp) and that she was now hopefully immune for future!

Although all of them were slightly unwell with it, I certainly don't see the need for immunisation, as it is not a killer virus. I wonder what the justification for it is in the States?

Karen x

RE: immunization - scary or what?

Hiya
I actively tried to get my kids to get chicken pox so it was done and dusted....much worse as an adult......Harvey is still yet too succumb..

I have just had someone in who works at a nursery and they have a break out of MUMPS.....it is more serious for men when they are older as it means they may well loose their fertility and is very painful.

T
x

RE: immunization - scary or what?

Firstly I apologise for not having read for your posts- and therefore if I duplicate any links/reference material....reason being I shouldn't really be wasting what's left of my evening on HP!

I made the decision not to have my meningitis jab when I was at school (so I was about 14/15) because of all the nasty chemicals they put in the jab, but most importantly because, from the material I had read, it doesn't offer you any actual protection against SOME strains of meningitis (coincidently the life threatening form.) As far as I was concerned there was more risk being immunised, having nasties put into me and then not being protected against the worst strain than there was to take care of myself in general to avoid catching it in the first place and be extra vigilant in the case of any symptoms presenting themselves.

My opinion has changed quite a lot since then as I have found the metaphyical POV on illness and dis-ease but I still do believe that in an emergency situation, such as someone contracting meningitis or whatever, obviously it would be very foolish to refuse hospital treatment.

I think it's just a case of looking at the evidence, for and against ('What doctor's don't tell you' is a good case against) and then making an informed choice.

RE: immunization - scary or what?

In the case of having to make the choice for someone else eg your children it's much more difficult...esp. if they're very young and perhaps more suceptable.

Tricky[&:]

RE: immunization - scary or what?

I've just Posted a link that may be of interest in General Health about all manner of immunisations & vaccinations.

Andrew.

RE: immunization - scary or what?

Hi all i chose not to immunuse myson aged 2/1/2 for many reasons...it was an agonising descision and i still read info ( parent)to make sure i am up to date and still in the right frame of mind.My partner and i have had manya debate but he has now left it up to me.
i also recently had a debate with a doc in a& e about why i was being soooo unresponsible after all he had had all his children vacc` why shpouldnt i? i listened dutifullyto everything he had to say and then i put my argument across for which he said there was conflicting research as to any links with autism etc etc(i have a cousin with aspergers and my nephew(brother) has autism.I ended my comments with....so what do you think of the actual ingredients we are injectin? the high levels of metals and formaldehyde????to which he looked at me blankly and said "i really must press on,,,,,,," i know a cop out when i hear one.

RE: immunization - scary or what?

Hello

I had my daughter immunised and the MMR, for me I felt it was the more responsible choice to make, a difficult one at the time as it too was in the mid of the MMR scare, but I felt it was right. I have always made sure that she is in tip top health and have given her calpol before she has any injection. I just feel there is a link between children being unwell when they are given jabs and complications.

Sam x