Infanrix - what do people know about it?

[Cha]

My ds had his first DDT / Hib jabs when he was 12 weeks and although it probably is a coincidence, has been filthy with colds ever since (now 20 weeks).
At the time I did think it was a lot to give a small child - diptheria, whooping cough and tetanus in one leg, meningitus c in the other and polio drops on his tounge. 5 diseases in one go. I voice these worries to the locum nurse but she literally ignored me and made me feel like I was silly. So I let her do it. And then I was told that he has to have 2 sets of boosters, unlike older dd who only had to go back once (and didn't have the meningitus in the other leg either).

Anyway - just before Xmas, I met up with my NCT group for a meal and one of the women, who is very informed about these things, told me about the enormous levels of mercury that exist in the DDT jab as a preservative. I can't remember exactly the amounts but they were way, way over what even an adult should tolerate. She said that there is a jab - Infanrix - which contains the DDT but has no mercury. Some surgeries have it and some don't, it doesn't cost more or anything, it just seems to be luck of the draw whether your child gets this one or the high mercury one.

Anyway, I asked at my GP's the other day whether they stocked Infanrix. I was told they did, but they only used it for pre schoolers and not for babies. The nurse said that it didn't provide good enough cover for the Hib so that's why they didn't use it for babies. But I thought the Hib was the meningitus one that was given separately anyway? Am I wrong? Am very reluctant to give him the 2 extra boosters, though he can't have them anyway as he has yet another filthy cough, just a few days after getting over the last one.
What do people know about it?

[LIZS]

There are others far better informed than me , such as Jimjams, regarding the content of vaccines. In my ignorance I never questioned what ds had in the UK, apart from mmr.

However in Switzerland there was no issue, dd had Infanrix for all hers and it included HIB - I even know which batch it came from and its expiry date, information which my paediatrician was appalled was omitted from the UK record.. For his preschool booster ds had a different form of Infanrix w/o HIB. Therefore I would think HIB could be administered in addition if there was real concern over its HIB effectiveness.

The mmr boosters for both were Priorix - does this contain mercury or not, I had assumed the latter ?

[zebra]

I'm sure you know your child best, Cha, but have to admit my 2nd baby was born in October & had non-stop colds from around 6 weeks to 8 months; she was very healthy after that so I think it's just a first winter get everything phenomenum.

I found some old threads where Jimjams esp. talks about Infanrix. In GP attitudes Jimjams implies that she thinks Infanrix does contain the mercury, In the HIb booster & Mercury threads she says Infanrix definitely doesn't contain Mercury. Here is Davros talking about what sequence to give non-thimerosol containing jabs in.

--not picking on you, Jimjams, but I'm a little confused myself!

[zebra]

ps: should say, I wouldn't give my child with a bad cold any jabs ever again, it did knock DD hard (she fell off her weight gain curve) when she had her 3 month jabs, I'm sure because she already had a bad cold.

[zebra]

Oops! Just realised there was a thread this week already on the subject.

[Cha]

Thanks for your help and information. Have read the government leaflet and it is all very reassuring - but are They telling the Truth? I personally find it difficult to trust anything that the government produces in this era of New Labour and spin. And I innocently voted for them back in the days... Does anyone out there know of an alternate publication saying anything different?
I am fairly sure that ds's constant illnesses is due to living with a nursery going older sister who brings bugs in every time she comes home! It is hell but I am sure in the long run his immune system will be vastly superior...
Still somewhat loathe to give him a mercury based booster, will see if my practice will let him have the preschool Infanrix, though even that sounds pretty vile in its chemical origins. I am from a medical family and I still firmly want to believe in immunisation but am having my faith rattled.

[Davros]

When I asked for Infanrix there was no problem at my GP's but the nurse did say that it was less effective, to whcih I answered but more effective than not having it at all...... we have a son with severe autism so I'm not taking any chances with the baby.

[Jimjams]

zebra misunderstood my post-it wasn't very clear sorry. I meant that they were changing back from aP to wP (which means changing from infanrix back to thimerosil containing jabs). Infanrix doesn't contain thimerosil They've always preferred to use the thimerosil containing jabs on babies as they contain the whole cell pertussis vaccine, although its only recently- since the hib problems that they've said no to infants getting infanrix. It is not 100% certain that infanrix was causing the hib problem- that was just one of a number of possibilities cited by the DofH.

Everywhere else (just about) uses infanrix (aus and US for example).

[Jimjams]

Cha there are about 2000 studies saying that thimerosil isn't safe On the thread- mercury aluminium and vaccinations there is a link to a radion show all about thimerosil. Also search google for mercury metallothionein and walsh and you will get some interesting stuff. Basically if you have a system that is working well at getting rid of heavy metals then you will probably cope well with thimerosil if you don't you're buggered. Walsh found that 99% of autistics are unable to process heavy metals very well. Whether they were autistic before being given thimerosil is the big question. Although the states uses infanrix - they give hep B - with thimerosil at birth.

Something that has always interested me- when the MMR was introduced the vaccination schedule for DTP changed from 3 5 and 7 months to 2 3 and 4 months. Are those with sub-optimal methallothionein simply being overloaded now?

[Cha]

Thanks JJ and Z - have asked at my GP's and when ds is better (ever??) I'll get the Infanrix and possibly the Hib booster - unless of course this has high mercury levels?

[Davros]

I thought Hiberix was the Hib mercury-free equivalent, don't know about booster, ask Jimjams or search previous threads.

[Jimjams]

you can get infanrix-hib a combined jab. I think the seperate hib shots are thimerosil free as well- just ask to check the ingredients list befrore you go ahead.