Mumsnet Talk

If you were setting up a playgroup and had chosen to only vaccinate your child in the first year and nothing beyond that, do you think the other parents should be informed of your child's vaccination status?

(Assuming your child would be there.)

No.

If the other children are vaccinated, their risk is considerably lower than that of the vaccinated child.

The unvaccinated child is the one at risk.

Therefore one would assume, the playgroup setter-upper is aware of this

If any of the children have immune issues I think their parents should be told, I am not sure if you can legally tell parents about the vaccinations other kids have had though.

I think at any playgroup/nursery/school you go to you should probably assume that there will be one or more children either unvaccinated or for whom the vaccine was not 100% effective. I don't think it needs to be explicitly stated.

The policy on whether the group allows non-vaccinated children or not should be available to all parents so they can make their minds up about sending their children to the group but the information about specific children's vaccination status should be completely confidential.

Whilst a very good idea vaccinations aren't compulsory.

I didn't know the vaccination status of all the other children at dd's nursery. Same at the moment with ds.

So, if you are the one setting up the playgroup - YANBU.

If you are judging someone for setting up a playgroup with an unvaccinated child - YABU.

No.

I assume we're talking about a toddler group, here, parents+under school age children?

I would think it was H&S gone mad if the organiser felt obliged to tell all visitors their child's vaccination status.

I know 2 groups run along all the best practice guidelines, policies for everything per PLA advice: they drive me completely bonkers. Cannot relax. Visitors are always breaking rules & being gently told off for something. Can't have pushchairs in building. Can't have bags on chairs. Can't have hot drinks here or there. Can't have this or that food. Can't Can't Can't. Don't get that item out. Don't go in here. Don't go in there (big notices). Doors must be shut if not actually locked just so. Notices up everywhere "YOUR CHILD IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY". Don't do this. Don't do that. Someone jumps every time you don't shut the door just right. There's a rule for how many breaths you're allowed to take each minute, I reckon. Artificially friendly.

Arrrgggghghghhhhhh...!

I think I'd like to know, personally. I know it's not compulsory but I'd like to make an informed decision about who my child mixes with. We don't have any immune issues but my neice does and couldn't be vaccinated fully herself yet due to lung damage. To expose a child like that to an unvaccinated child can't be a good idea I suppose.

Hollyberrybush apart from the unvaccinated child being at risk, aren't they then also at risk of passing it on to someone else?

No one's business - you are mixing with un vax children on public transport etc as well.

BUT If there was a child cancer sufferer in the group that would be different - that child's parents should be told.

Nope. None of your business.
And it would be a data protection issue.

If you have a child with a seriously compromised immune system, it's down to you to talk to the organisers of any group you attend, so other parents can be extra aware eg not to bring their DC to the group if DC are ill. Though TBH there's always going to be some risk as a lot of diseases are most infectious before anyone's aware that the disease is present.

While I think it's stupid not to vaccinate, it's still not (yet) a legal matter and therefore people shouldn't have to disclose their vaccination status to everyone else.

Holly what about younger siblings that go along who are not old enough to be vaccinated? My friend's baby caught measles this way and ended up in hospital.

But no, it isn't legal so the group can't make people disclose.

I would hate it to become mandatory to vaccinate.

You do know that being vaccinated doesn't guarantee you won't contract an illness, right? I had the single measles and rubella vaccines as a child and still managed to catch both diseases.

I think if a child is severely immunocompromised, they should be told that there is an unvaccinated child in the playgroup.

Well if you're going to do that then you should be insisting on checking the immune status of every child. DS1 caught rubella from a vaccinated child.

The playgroup has no right to see medical records btw.

And you should keep away from adults as loads of them are not immune to whooping cough due to waning immunity (see current outbreak). And teenagers :ditto:

There will always be people for whom vaccines don't "work" but there's something about setting up a group in which each and every attendee will unknowingly be exposed to one unvaccinated child because of a personal decision of the group leader.

I do know a severely immunocompromised child who was invited on a special trip to the theatre. They asked his doctors about the risk and were told that his greatest risk was from himself (i.e. those viruses we all carry that don't usually make us ill) rather than anyone else.

Well quite, saintlyjimjams, but there's almost nothing anyone can do about concomitant viruses and bacteria whereas being exposed to an unvaccinated individual in this situation, is avoidable if given the option.

Well that could happen anywhere tbh. What are you expecting the unvaccinated child to be spreading? If measles I take your point but if whooping cough is the big worry then you should be staying in because lots of vaccinated people are spreading it at the moment as well. Rubella, well see my earlier post about ds1 catching it from a vaccinated child.