AIBU to think non vaccination is child abuse

[alittlevoice]

There was this discussion in another thread and i thought i would make a new thread so it doesn't over taken someone elses

To me not vaccinating your child is akin to child abuse because you are putting them at undue risk of disease which is preventable due to scare mongering or from quack doctors that have long been struck off the medical register and shunned from the medical community

I hate the assumption that because there has been no reported cases it means you shouldn't vaccinate your children it's because children have been vaccinated regularly that there has not been a epidemic

leading doctors (not the quacks) have been worried for some time about the rise of mumps because of the scare mongering and children not getting vaccinated and get seriously Ill and have to be saved by modern medicine (which quack parents are always keen to take up on with there anti vaccination stance)

rubella has a incubation period as many other diseases so if your child has it and you dont know and child is near a pregnant woman and she loses her child due to non immunisation I don't understand how as a parent you'd do that to another person

So the long and short of it is why are some parents touched in the head and think they have the right for there child to possibly kill unborn children and infect younger babies too young to have the choice (and for those saying this is far fetched its as plausible of something going wrong from immunisations)

I'm not anti-vac BUT

non vaccinated is our natural state.

Cant get worked up about it.

Not abuse (fgs)

Nope, YANBU unless it's someone where there are clear contra-indications for the vaccine such as particular allergies or close family members having had bad side effects from vaccination which would suggest a much-increased risk. Because there is a risk of vaccine damage, it's just that it's a lot smaller than the risks of not vaccinating.
And while I believe in people's right to their opinions, however stupid, I put anti-vaccination activists in the same Fucking Stupid Get Out OF My Sight mental box as anti-abortionists.

your emotive and hysterical language doesnt lend itself to a reasonable measured debate

vaccination is not compulsory and parents make choices based upon many factors
class
education
peer group
many misrepresented "facts" and misunderstandings too
the use of as you say unregulated quacks

but im not sure attacking people as touched in the head,adds any gravitas or legitimacy to your argument

do however think is good topic of discussion

well all the people I know who have chosen not to vaccinate have done so for the reasons as stated by SpringChicken - clear contra-indications.

YABU

Did you vaccinate your child against swine flu?

but child abuse?????? ermm no.

oh and FWIW - 6yrs ago when I joined MN i thought rather much the same as the OP. Then I read a couple of (very very long) threads about the subject - and heard from people who hadn't vaccinated and I changed my opinions. I still had DS3 fully vaccinated (apart from swine flu) just like his brothers - but I'm certainly more open minded about it now.

YABU. Ridiculous statement.

To me vaccinating your child against everything maybe putting them at undue risk of developing life long conditions.

The medical industry fucks up some times we all know this, the trend now days is jabs for multiple vaccines all at once, that must be a strain on the developing immune system, better to be done one by one.

I think vaccinating against non-life threatening things is a waste of money and a risk to the child that doesn't need to be taken.

And I think the government/NHS rules of it's MMR or sod off and pay a private GP for separate injections is child abuse.

yes I beleive in vaccinations and both me and ds got vaccinated against swine flu and plan to against any other pandemics

I just don't understand in this age of susposed enlightenment that people don't vaccinate it blows my mind

i do understand that if something happens with your child you want there to be cause so you can blame something and fight against something but i don't understand the non vaccination even then

definition of child abuse :

the physical or emotional or sexual mistreatment of children

so physically you are allowing your child to be at a heighten risk for illness your allowing them to emotionally have to go through a possible long illness where they have to receive a lot of medical treatment and sexually with mumps we all know it's not good for any male to get mumps

I think they should be compulsory unless there is a proven allergy or increased risk proven and not just because of hokum science

Ryoko: ANdrew Wakefield (anti-MMR doctor) has been struck off for lying. If there was any truth in this bullshit about multiple vaccines being so dangerous there would be a lot more sick and damaged DC than there are.

You are putting it badly, but I feel it's cowardly to not take responsibility for your child (if not contraindicated) and vaccinate them. Abuse? No, very misguided? Yes.

Your parents took responsibility and vaccinated you, and that's why you are in the position to talk about rare, mild diseases.

HOWEVER, I don't bother with flu jabs, simply because I've never had the flu (and I'm a healthy adult so don't really need one), I would get swine flu if it was a risk where I was.

I also think that if you choose not to vaccinate you should make sure that children around yours at school/nursery are aware of this, so that if they are too young, or immune compramised and so can't be vaccinated they know to stay well clear.

Don't most of the "non MMRers" usually source the single injections anyhow? Those that don't vaccinate at all from what I've heard have pretty strong reasons not for doing so with contra-indications obvious.

I didn't vaccinate against swine flu - and I wouldn't in the future either, would have for DS1 if he'd been in the right age group to have been offered it because of his history of chest problems - but DS2,3 and myself are not in the high risk groups for that.

Wouldn't get them vaccinated against chickenpox if it were available (as in the US?) either (although 3 out of 4 of us have already had it anyhow).

Where Jimjams when you need her. She was the one that explained it to me and changed my views on the subject - as someone who would still get all the standard childhood vaccinations done if I had anymore children.

Well you're being very rude for a start so can't see why anyone would want to have a proper debate with you about it, I am undecided on dc2 as yet and will be looking further into it
Out of interest do you also believe that ear piercing is child abuse? (I just want to know whether or not to take you seriously)

.

Apparantly baroque, the single mumps is unavailable now so singles is not an option I've been told tonight, I have no idea why though

actually - I must be a child abuser if increasing a risk to your child is abuse - as I'm sure there are all sorts of heightened risks of allowing my 7yr old to pop to the shop for me, and letting my 10yr old walk my 7yr old to school, and of letting the 10yr old cook some simple dinner and use the kettle - lots of parents don't let their children of those ages do those things......I'm increasing their risk of injuring themselves so I'm an abuser.

(that's of course ignoring all the other indicators - not just Wakefield and "quacks" that parent use when deciding not to vaccinate - it's generally not a decision that parents make lightly )

SpringchickenGoldBrass

Why take the risk, there are many things deemed safe at the time we now know were not, why not offer separate injections?, better then not getting it at all.

Ear piercing is not abuse that is not going to cause any harm to any other people if you get close to them near its just going to result in 2 small holes

I am not generally rude or insane but its just confusing to me that anyone would put any child at risk or any children they didnt know or pregnant women but think its okay if their child gets a illness use the same medicine in the vacination to treat it i just cant get my head around it

really! goodness - so for parents that unhappy to have their children taking the MMR, and who are willing to pay out to get them vaccinated singly they can't do it?

Is that just in the UK - or can they (irrc?) still go across to Europe if funds allow to have it done?

I don't think it's abuse but probably a form of neglect.

Non vaccination is illegal here in Singapore .... GPs have to report vaccinations and you get chased by the Ministry of Health if you're not within the guidelines.

OP I believe the chickenpox vaccine is available privately in the UK - I presume you have vaccinated your children against it yes?

There is no evidence that mumps causes sterility. In ADULTS it may cause orchitis (swelling) in one or both testicles but this isn't usually long lasting. for children it is usually a mild disease and a large percentage of cases are completely asymptomatic.

It really surprises me how little the people who are so extremely pro- vax actually know about the diseases that they vaccinate against.

There is no evidence that mumps causes sterility. In ADULTS it may cause orchitis (swelling) in one or both testicles but this isn't usually long lasting. for children it is usually a mild disease and a large percentage of cases are completely asymptomatic.

It really surprises me how little the people who are so extremely pro- vax actually know about the diseases that they vaccinate against.