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)

BalloonSlayer I was one of the guinea-pigs for the original measles jabs in 1964. I don't know how long they tested it before general release but a child who was 2 yo in 1976 would almost certainly have had the jab.

Incidentally my 3 boys all had MMR. One caught mumps, and one caught rubella, after they'd had the jab. DD1 did not have MMR- under instruction from our GP- and never caught anything but chickenpox. AFAIA the chickenpox vax is not available in the UK on the NHS. DD2 is almost 4 and has never been offered it.

As far as the risk to pregnant women from rubella I do feel it is the responsibility of every woman to check her immunity before she intends to get pregnant.

Oh of course, I'm not questioning that. It was just you mentioning that your girls had never had high temperatures and I just wanted to say that some, like my DS, do! :) I hope your friend's little one is ok... :(

"Measles is one of the typical viral diseases of childhood. However, unlike other common viral diseases i.e. VZV, rubella, mumps, and parvovirus infections, measles often leads to severe complications that may be fatal. In the third world, there may be up to 900,000 measles related deaths per year. Therefore, there is a lot of pressure on health in different countries in controlling the disease through vaccination. Indeed, measles is targeted by the WHO in its Expanded program of immunisation (EPI)."

QUOTE taken from new scientist magazine

It was 1968 tallulah. So another 4 years before it was generally released.

Gorgeousx, sorry - that probably gives your age away.

measles and sterility? There's one I've never heard before...

Most vaccines (maybe all - not sure) given these days are attenuated which means they stimulate an immune response but not to the full effect - therefore whilst temp etc are common - they are a sign of hightened response and a constant challenge to the immune response is useful in strengthening it. Both my daughters have had every vaccine offered and i feel comfortable knowing that if something awful happened to them through illness - then i did my best. People underestimate the effect childhood illnesses had in the past. I did deliberate over the swine flu vaccine but gave in in the end and i am so glad as one of the children in my daughters reception class has been ill with swine flu for the past 2 months - vaccine can give reassurance. A total personal choice though and unfair to criticise those who don't. My only concern is with the mmr as this isn't offered until 13 months and children are susceptible younger than this - therefore when my youngest child was in nursery - i did worry about those who were older who may catch it passing it on to her before she had chance of immunisation. Not sure how i feel about forced vaccines before starting education - agree theoretically but public confidence needs to improve.

How about AIBU in thinking letting a complete stranger inject your child with bacteria is child abuse?

Paisleyleaf No worries - I'm not ashamed of being 50.

Gorgeous. Viruses I assume you mean? Measles and rubella are viruses not bacterial. As is h1n1. (swine flu)

i understand peoples concern about vaccines - bad publication on both sides results in low public confidence but it has to be taken into context - side effects from a vaccine whilst unpleasant - generally wont kill you. The illnesses they prevent can. Most vaccines have been through massive testing - the whole topic of the mmr has always confused me even from my uni days where i studies it in depth - the triple vaccine has had far more testing and over a longer period than the single vaccine has and always come out on top yet people insist on the single vaccines upon which far fewer studies are based???!

Child endangerment Yes

Child abuse No

i don't think its a game of russian roulette - its basic concepts of odds and probability and the odds are much more in your favour with vaccination?

Booandpops Whatever you say. I'm just trying to make the point that OP is being ridiculous to suggest that people who don't vaccinate their children are abusing them

"i feel comfortable knowing that if something awful happened to them through illness - then i did my best." Same here.

My friend was vaccinated for the swine flu and still caught it. My father was vaccinated for SARS and still caught it and died from it. Reassurance is not a good reason to have or not have vaccinations.

if it weren't for vaccination all the big killers from years ago would be still here? Those who don't vaccinate are merely benefiting from the risks taken by those that do.....!

[[http://www.whale.to/vaccines/deaths.html Vaccination deaths]

Vaccination deaths

i think reassurance is important for parents - it may not prevent a child getting ill but if may help knowing you did your best if thney do get ill. Last month a doctor went on the front of every newspaper demanding the swine flu jab for under fives after his 3yr old daughter sadly died from it. Yet she would have been offered it last year (as was my 3rd yr old) and he must have refused it - if she had had it he may have felt different now even if events had been the same.....

Gorgeous. Fair enough but if you dont know your subject you can't really be qualified to comment IMO

kitkat - the illnesses that they protect against generally won't kill you either.

What big killers? Scarlet fever used to be a big killer but, even without a vaccine, it no longer is. Measles was a very big killer at the start of the last century but cases declined hugely before the 1940s and then even more when antibiotics became available - this was all before the vaccine was introduced in 1968.