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Original poster

Did you have a BCG jab ?

79 replies

Cupcake4u · 27/01/2019 22:53

I'm in my late 20's and for some reason my entire year didn't have their BCG done .... I can't remember what the reason was .

I think a few had to have It done privately , but I never had the test done or the jab itself

OP posts:
PinkAvocado · 27/01/2019 22:54

I’m older my whole year didn’t have it either so then I had to have it as an adult bit can’t remember why!

blondeemily · 27/01/2019 22:54

Yes I had it and I left school in 2006. Am I right in thinking they have stopped doing it now?

Original poster
Cupcake4u · 27/01/2019 22:57

I left in 2008 and my parents got a letter saying that they were no longer providing it🤔

OP posts:
JaiNotJay · 27/01/2019 22:59

I didn't but everyone else in my year did. They did a skin test first and I came up in bumps which indicated immunity (I think?) so I didn't have to get the jab. I was very relieved!

blondeemily · 27/01/2019 23:01

Just googled and they stopped offering it to secondary school children in 2005. Mine must have been the last year group to have it.

DrMadelineMaxwell · 27/01/2019 23:04

It had the desired result and brought the rate of TB down so far it was no longer needed to be offered to the general population.

I still have the scar from it on my arm. It was like a raised bubble for years and years and I'm glad it's gone down a lot finally.

BagofTeeth · 27/01/2019 23:04

I'm in my late 30s and had it. I only found out they don't do it any more when I got the teen vaccination schedule for my eldest a couple of years ago.

Passthecake30 · 27/01/2019 23:05

I did (in my 40's) and my kids had it within a day of being born... which was hard to watch as I remember it was a painful one!

Omzlas · 27/01/2019 23:08

I was 6 weeks old, I had it as a baby because my dad had TB shortly before I was born

My DC have had it because my DH is from a country where it's widespread (and we travel there)
DC were both approx 1 week & 3 weeks old when they had it

DC has a scar from it, DC2 has nothing, not even a mark

ShowOfHands · 27/01/2019 23:10

I'm 38 and I was in the first year in our school not to have it. I know they carried on in more populated areas but in rural EA, they saw no need for it.

Hen2018 · 27/01/2019 23:12

No. Am early 40s and the year above mine was the last in this county to get them.

Hen2018 · 27/01/2019 23:12

They’re only 50% effective which is why they are not offered as much as other vaccinations.

PostNotInHaste · 27/01/2019 23:14

49 and didn’t have it at school so had to have it my 20’s for work.

TitusP · 27/01/2019 23:15

I had mine in 2006 aged 16, nasty scar which has never faded.

cinderfrickingrella · 27/01/2019 23:16

My eldest didn't have it (15), my youngest (5) had it as a baby (routine in my area)

lostinjapan · 27/01/2019 23:19

Yeah, had it at school in 2002-ish. Still have a very visible scar.

steppemum · 27/01/2019 23:20

I am 52 and had it at 13.
My three kids all had it as babies (now aged 8-16) but that was because we were living overseas, in a high TB area. (they had it in the UK)

Twotabbycats · 27/01/2019 23:22

I didn't have it as my parents decided against it. I am 52 (so left school in 1985) and I have a vague recollection that it was a newish thing at that point, though my DH is 4 years older and had it so maybe not. I had other vaccinations - definitely measles and rubella and polio on a sugar cube so I'm not sure why my parents chose for me not to have it.

Ollivander84 · 27/01/2019 23:24

Left school in 2000 and no

zzzzz · 27/01/2019 23:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pinkkahori · 27/01/2019 23:28

I'm Irish, mid-forties. We were tested at the end of primary school and i had to get the injection. I still remember it. My arm was a mess for ages afterwards with sore, weepy wounds.
BCG was routinely given at birth here due to widespread TB. My dc had it at birth too but they are both over 10. Not sure if it is currently part of the vaccination program.

Cathpot · 27/01/2019 23:32

I didn’t have it as I reacted to the tester jab and was told at the time ‘you’ve either got TB , had TB or you’re naturally immune’ and sent for a chest X-ray which apparently was inconclusive.
My kids have had it as we moved to a country where TB was an issue. We had to pay for it as we lived in a rural area where they don’t routinely immunise against TB. We were told that you can get it on the NHS but only if you live in large urban centres with a TB risk. At my kid’s jab appointment the old and bold TB jab nurse said my reacting to the TB jab 30 years ago probably meant I was carrying TB ( not impossible as I lived overseas as a child) and I was ok now but if I got to 80 and started coughing up blood I ought to see someone . I didn’t really know what to do with that information. Chatting to my mum about it and she told me her mother had lost her own mother and brother to TB and has nursed them both without falling sick herself. She said she presumed that was a sign she had some sort of natural immunity and that when I reacted to the jab as a teen that I had inherited it. I should probably look into if that is even vaguely likely as my mum has no medical background and so I may have been comforting myself with a load of rubbish.

BackforGood · 27/01/2019 23:33

Yes, I did, but I'm in my 50s.

The vaccination programme was a real success though, and most of the population no longer are routinely given the jab.

None of me dc have had it (in 20s and teens)

Hedwigsradio · 27/01/2019 23:35

I'm 36 and had them didn't even realise it had stopped.

MrsMartinRohde · 27/01/2019 23:36

I had it at school, age 12 in 1986. IIRC I had a mild reaction to the skin test and they were in some doubt as to whether I needed the actual jab but decided to anyway. I remember the scan coming off after school swimming and the gunk pouring down my arm. There was a raised swollen red mark for years but 33yrs on it's flat and faded and barely visible.