Vaccinations - really annoyed, need advice

[pinkstar01]

When my 5 month old had his 8 week vaccinations he had some kind of reaction almost 48 hours later. His body broke out in large red blotches/hives so I took him straight to our GP and she said it did look like some kind of reaction, said to give him one dose of piriton so I did and it worked right away. She suggested that he could possibly be allergic to the egg protein but it's hard to tell without being tested by an allergy clinic which she referred us to. In the meantime she said to hold off on the rest of the jabs.

Fast forward to today, after waiting 3 months I finally got a phone consultation with a specialist today. He rang me earlier than scheduled so caught me off guard, and was in a massive rush to get through the call and get off the phone. He immediately said it can't be an allergic reaction because it happened almost 2 days later and that we should give him the rest of the jabs but give them separately once a week or something. He didn't care when I said that the piriton worked on his rash/hives and he just rushed through and was off the phone in 3 minutes.

I'm so confused now, do I listen to him and get the rest of them done? I want to take him to a private doctor now to get allergy tests done but my husband is saying if the doctor says it's fine then let's do it.

Side note: I desperately want him to be fully vaccinated like my DS1 is so this is really stressful for me.

Any advice? Thank you

[pinkstar01]

Bump

[BoxOfShapes]

Your poor son, and poor you: what a worrying time.

In your position I think I would try to get a second opinion, or the allergy tests from a private doctor as you say. If you are all relatively isolated for now anyway (is DS1 at school/nursery?) then DS2’s risk of catching something in the meantime should be lower than usual.

There is a type of allergic reaction called Type IV Hypersensivity Reaction which comes on 2-3 days later. It doesn’t happen after the first exposure, but rather a subsequent one after T cells have been “presensitised” so eg 6 week injections might have been fine, but then 8 not; or if it was an ingredient in the 8 week vaccinations but not the 6, he could have been exposed to that ingredient before some other way.

Doctors are understandably keen to keep up vaccination rates and I do sometimes feel this can lead to them being dismissive of concerns from parents who are absolutely pro vaccination.

My child had several classic (non-serious) side effects from the MMR, as listed in the patient information leaflet and within the correct time frame, but the doctor listed them as “unknown viral illness” in his notes. I will obviously go ahead with the next dose because the benefits outweigh those side effects, but this lack of accurate recording did annoy me.

I have a permanent large scar from one of my baby vaccinations that I had a reaction to which subsequently got infected. When my mum had taken me to the doctor to show them, they said was fine and would clear up.

You should seek further opinions if you’re not 100% sure.

[roxfox]

I'd get a second opinion before proceeding with the schedule at normal pace.

[BoxOfShapes]

I realise that in my post I'd got confused about which vaccinations are when. I thought your son's 8 week vaccinations were his second set as I misremembered the schedule. But my general post still applies!