Menjugate vaccine scare - we've been asked to comment - what do you think?

oh god dont get me thinking about aluminium. I have got more and more wary with each child as I have learned more. More information drives me mad!

Indeed, I was looking at the old vaccination schedule from the 80's (I think?) and was quite shocked at the massive disparity in jabs.

Of course it is a minefield. If you vaccinate and something goes wrong, it is terrible but you are faced with the other option of not vaccinating and being responsible through "inaction"....(mother's guilt, eh?).

I am trying to choose a middle path, looking at what vaccinations to have and which to delay and spreading them out more. I had a battle at the surgery at first but we are getting there.

I did also mention to the nurse about getting a different brand of the MEN C (due next week) as I wanted one with less aluminium. Rather coincidentally, they currently use Menjugate, I asked for a different one [spookyface]

Pfft - I thikn we have every right to question it and fially make the decision that we are happy with. I couldn't believe it when I saw what the '4 month' one entailed.
It has changd a lot in 7 years - even in 4

popsycal, I am doing that, having the infant jabs spaced out. I am not at all happy with the situation where they have all at once, particularly the 4 month vaccinations. I had some fuss when I first mentioned it but no mention since.

ds2 is also due his pre school booster so wil wait a while too

i delayed ds3's jabs until he was 12 weeks then before he had it, he was hospialised with bronchiolitis and had anti biotics so i delasyed further. then he had bronchiolitis again so delayed. was due to have them on monday comoing but has had a vomiting bug for days and still has a high temperature so i cancelled this morning before i read this article

i was already considering asking for the 5 in 1 separate from the meningitis jab (it worries me how muxch they gove them at once - at 4 months, they get the 5 in 1, pneumonococal meningitis and meningitis c at the same time!!!!) and I think I will ask for this when i rearrange his appointment

According to the news, the bacterial contamination was due to Staph aureus.

The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is a commensal bacterium (i.e. most of us have it livng on us somewhere) - it could have come from unwashed hands, coughing or even sneezing.

It is related to MRSA but not necessarily the same strain of the bacterium.
It is also possible for it to cause necrotising fasciitis in extremely rare circumstances.

I think a product recall for testing was a wise move.

I will be waiting for a few months before getting DS done with his booster.

What TMAM said just below/

I agree with the media scaremongering comments. Yet more fuel on the anti-vaccination fire.

Personally I find this article poorly written.

Firstly it doesn't specify what would happen to a child vaccinated with a batch deemed not sterile. Would it affect the efficacy of the vaccine at all? Would the child become sick in any way?

Secondly it doesn't say where the non sterile batches were, just 'not in the UK'. Why not explain where they were?

Thirdly there is no clear explanation of how these batches ended up being exposed and losing their sterility. Does it happen often?

Fourthly there is absolutely no mention of HOW EFFECTIVE the Men C vaccine is and how many deaths have been prevented since it has been incorporated into the routine vaccine schedule.

In my opinion, it is another media scaremongering story. The danger of course being that there is less of an uptake in future Men C vaccines as parents become confused as to what is safe and not safe.

I've got very little trust in the media any more when it comes to reporting the facts in health "scares".

That's sad isn't it? Who can we trust?

i think journalists are generating these scare stories for no good reason apart from their own career and so they get some publicity.
the vaccines are not DANGEROUS, they were just not sterile.
they were not even in the UK.

If it was a batch of bandages which had become dirty do you think this would have got the same reaction?

i think the press should be more responsible imo because people are just going to read the headlines and start freaking out.
that journalist could end up with blood on her hands if children die from not having the vaccine. ok so that comment was a bit extreme, but it's all such irresponsible media scaremongering.

As someone who chose the single jabs rather than mmr for my children just in case I have to say this story does not worry me that much. It is an issue of sterility, the batches have been pulled and weren't used in the UK anyway. that's very different from the possibility of vaccines themeselves causing lasting damage (or not - the possibility).

I would have though that anyone who received the non-sterlie dose would either have developed an infection shortly afterwards or if not would be fine.

It's not great that the slip up happenned of course but sounds like they caught it early and took action for what is only a theoretical risk.

As someone who chose the single jabs rather than mmr for my children just in case I have to say this story does not worry me that much. It is an issue of sterility, the batches have been pulled and weren't used in the UK anyway. that's very different from the possibility of vaccines themeselves causing lasting damage (or not - the possibility).

I would have though that anyone who received the non-sterlie dose would either have developed an infection shortly afterwards or if not would be fine.

It's not great that the slip up happenned of course but sounds like they caught it early and took action for what is only a theoretical risk.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't tbh.

This is obviously a nightmare, both for the authorities and any parents who feel their child's health may have been compromised....but parents must still be urged to take up the MMR vaccine. Measles can kill.

"The tested samples that failed the sterility test were part of a non-routine study undertaken by the company and were not part of the UK market product."

It seems like a bit of a scare for no good reason - if it were shown that batches that had been used on children were contaminated, that would perhaps be more worrying. Although this is basically saying they were not sterile, which is very different from saying that have THIS PARTICULARLY BACTERIA which will result in THIS AWFUL INEVITABLE CATASTROPHE.

Not read the other comments but what strikes me after reading the news reports is that this will have worried a lot of us who have just had/ are about to have our children vaccinated against men c. There's no information given at all to mums in this situation. What should we do? Should we be concerned? A little bit of a steer would be great.

The rest of my post lost .

MMR and the controversy that is still very real for many parents has made enough tremors that parents don;t vaccinate enough already, this could make the vaccine take up a lot worse.

The Gov issue statments saying Bacteria that causes infections (sorry can't remember which)has been found in it, but don't worry. But if these bacteria are found on a hospital ward it is bad news.

They need to stop talking to us as if we're incapable of intelligent thoughts.

Sorry, didn't finish my last post - meant to add that that is exactly what we don't want!!