I’m Unvaccinated

[UnDeadPool]

Not looking for a fight - just want some advice.

It came up in conversation with my mum today that I wasn’t vaccinated as a baby. I had no idea. Maybe I shouldn’t have but I just presumed that I was.

She said she took me for the first one and it made my arm swell up so never took me back.

She’s also pretty sure I had measles as an infant but isn’t sure as she never took me to the doctor for confirmation.

I can remember having my tb needle at school when I was about 9/10 (I have the scar) and having a jab when I was 12/13 in secondary school (don’t know what this was for)

Is it too late for me to have my vaccinations now? I’m almost 38. Googling just brings up over 60 flu jab

Thanks.

Pineapple, is correct, I was wrong... yes it contains polio too.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/whooping-cough-vaccination-pregnant/

www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/4-in-1-pre-school-dtap-ipv-booster/

I had measles and chicken pox as a child (1960s).

I was given rubella and tb vax at school in the 1970s. And polio on a sugar lump.

I literally can't remember what else I would have been screened for/vaxed against when I became pregnant at 37. I think they did do HIV screening then.

Never had mumps, whooping cough, meningitis (too old) or flu vaccine (too young) and count myself lucky not to have suffered with those diseases.

I wasn't vaccinated. It came to light when I was pregnant with DC1. I had to go for monthly blood tests for everything. Was vaccinated in the 5 month break between pregnancies 1&2. It's never too late.

When I was pregnant they took bloods and found I had no immunity to measles. So either jab didn't take or I didn't have it.
They won't give you the jab while pregnant but will do after the birth of dc as they did me. Ask your midwife if they still check for it when taking bloods.

I still have my vaccination cards which show I was vaccinated against measles in 1974, so there was a measles vaccine in the 70s.

They tend to test for rubella immunity during pregnancy as some people have missed boosters and because it can "wear off" after a few years
So glad I saw this thread! I'm pregnant and have forgotten to book in for whooping cough
I'll be on the phone in the morning

Rubella immunity is the most important, rubella is only on the vaccination schedule because it’s so terrible for foetuses. It’s just a mild cold like illness in children and adults.

However, thanks to vaccination, if you’re not immune there’s not much around anymore so need immunity should see you through. There’s also a pretty good chance you had runella as a child - like I said, it’s a mild illness, no one would have been alarmed.

• herd immunity, obviously. Silly autocorrect

If youve go this far and you’re fine...why bother
Sounds like you have a strong immune system.

Because

a) the immune system is depressed during pregnancy
b) if you aren't immune to German Measles and are pregnant when you come into contact with it from a child with a fucking moron for a parent , it's a huge problem for the baby.

"so there was a measles vaccine in the 70s."

Yes, but not everybody got it. I was born in 77 and didn't get it.

I was born in the mid 70's. My Mother decided not to have myself or my brother vaccinated against measles as my brother had asthma and she thought it would make him ill. We both caught measles and both were really poorly. I can still remember crying and feeling very unwell. Not sure why she made the decision not to protect us against such a nasty illness.

And I was born in 1973 and did get it in 1978 - but a week too late, as the first (unvaccinated) kid was diagnosed less than 24 hours later and we all - almost the entire school - came down with symptoms over the next couple of days, as it was already in the incubation period by the time we had it. Some parents refused vaccines at the time as well - the one whose son ended up in intensive care for weeks with Tetanus being one of them. Or the one who thought that Whooping cough wouldn't be a problem for her daughter and never gave a thought to it until her newborn baby died when said daughter brought it home with her. Or the people who passed it on to them in the first place.

There have always been some people who don't believe in modern medicine. Or neutering pets. Or contraception. Just not as many as now, as there wasn't a massive network of charlatans, snake oil salesmen and frauds who make a fortune out of the conspiracy theories.

I remember practically my whole school year coming down with measles in the space of a few months in 1981, so the measles jab can't have been available where I lived in the 70s.