Does this sound wrong to you??

[Linzoid]

My 4 yr old ds has been seeing a consultant at the hospital for a possible immune problem. Apparently he has no antibodies to some of the jabs he's had. The hospital sent me a letter and one to the gp saying that the next course of action was for him to have these jabs again. It said one dose of prevenar followed by another 6 weeks later ( i don't even know what prevenar is!!) My gp got the letter, i never heard from them so i went in. I was told that they don't have that vaccine. I then waited while a prescription was written out for it, i had to go get it from the chemist. The chemist said they had never had a prescription for that before and didn't stock it, then the wholesalers didn't have it either so the chemist ordered it from the manufacturer. I took it back to the gp who put it in the fridge and gave me and appointment for the first dose to be administered by the nurse tomorrow. Now i may just be being paranoid but i'm worried about all this, i have never heard of anyone else doing this and i'm just hoping that the gp and nurse know what they are on about! What would you feel in my position??

[robinw]

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[batey]

I'd check the sell-by of the vaccine and get some more info/second opinions. And ask lots of questions. Good Luck.

[Jimjams]

linzoid- I agree you need to know more before the vaccination. Make sure you ask about risks with and without the vaccine. Have they diagnosed the immune problem? Why would this vaccine be expected to work if others haven't. If you are not happy with the replies pospone the appointment until you are. The GP may not know much about it himself , but it is important that you are 100% happy with the vaccination veing administered before it is.

[SofiaAmes]

Linzoid, Prevnar is a pneumococal meningitis vaccination. It is standard in the usa and given to all babies along with the other stuff that they get at 2,3,4 months as it is the main cause of meningitis there. I have had both my ds and dd vaccinated with it. My ds was done in the usa and my dd was done privately here in the uk as it is not available on the nhs except in special circumstances. (no one at the nhs in the uk seemed to have heard of it either except one gp at my current surgery) Neither of my children had any side effects at all. And in fact ds had had many many terrible ear infections (one with every cold) until he got his second prevnar jab, and hasn't had one since. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

[robinw]

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[Linzoid]

Does anyone know then why it would be used in the usa but only in special circs here? Surely it could stop children getting meningitus here too could it not?

[SofiaAmes]

As robinw said it is a very expensive vaccination. I was told by my gp that they are planning to introduce it as standard in england in about 2 years time.
But you can get it done privately here, it's just super expensive. It will end up costing me £650 by the time I've given the four jabs to my dd. Worth it to me, but I can afford it which most people can't . I hope it does end up becoming available as standard on the nhs.

[NQWWW]

SofiaAmes - I hadn't heard of this vaccination. Do you know in what circumstances it's considered necessary?

[SofiaAmes]

In the usa it is standard for all children. Here I think it is at the moment only given to children with low immunity problems (like linzoid's ds).

[zebra]

I thought that prevnar was the same as the Meningitus C vacc the babies now get... no?

[mears]

Prevenar ias a vaccine against pneumococcal meinigitis. perhaps this has been recommended because of your child's immunity problem. My ds no. 2 had pneumococcal meningitis and was very lucky to survive. It is caused by a common ear infection or such like that become a major illnes. He was lucky to have no ill effects but Bobbin's son died from it as described in a previous thread. Ask your paediatrician or GP why this has been recommended so that you can make an informed choice.