AIBU to think it's ridiculous to not vaccinate children?

[nurseysclone]

Of course, if theres a proper medical reason why it shouldn't be done thats a little different, but there are some people I know who were allergic to it, the doctor advised their mothers that a swollen arm for a bit is better than the range of diseases they could catch if they didn't, so they went ahead with it. Thing is though some people are now saying that "if everyone else is vaccinated that means I don't have to". But that's just ridiculous. The more people who say that, the less children are vaccinated, the higher the risk of something potentially fatal being caught. Why won't they just give them the needle to protect them and everyone else? AIBU?

Have you ever been on a vaccination thread on here before? I hope you're wearing flame-retardant clothing and a hard hat...

I suggest you do a bit more research on people's reasons if this is something that concerns you. It is not just a case of "everyone else does so I don't have to" for most people. Some people are not convinced by the safety of vaccines. Some people have had children have bad reactions and have decided against it for future children. Some people even prefer their children to develop natural immunity through the disease.

Your assumption about people's reasoning is very simplistic. There are plenty of threads on MN about this issue that you can read.

FWIW I vaccinate, although I followed a slightly delayed program, so I am not being defensive.

YANBU - my DH caught Mumps a couple of months ago, the Doctor told him it was probably from there being more kids with Mumps now, due to not having their MMR.

YANBU - It's very selfish and anti-social to say I won't vaccinate my children because most other people do. Herd immunity will be seriously compromised the more people do this.

YANBU. There are parents in third-world countries that would shift heaven and earth to get the vaccinations we are routinely offered free of charge and which so many casually reject. The problem we have in the UK is that the diseases being vaccinated against are a distant memory. I'm mid forties and remember kids actually getting whooping cough, measles, mumps etc. - I was left deaf for months after contracting measles. I knew older people that had had polio and were crippled as a result - so no-one's parents turned down the miraculous polio vaccine. But younger people have no experience and therefore the microscopic risk attached to the vaccination becomes much scarier and more real than the rather higher risk of catching the disease. Perspective is skewed.

YABU

If you choose to vaccinate your dc then fine. Other people may have very different opinions and reasons for not wanting to vaccinate.

It's a personal decision.

My uncle got TB when he was young before vaccinations were available, he was really ill for a really long time. So I guess I'm a little biased. I'm not really attacking anyone, I just think isn't the alternative better than death/blindness/god knows whatever else?

There's a whole vaccination topic on here if you want to read it.

Some very sad stories on there, on both sides of the issue.

Well yes, you are, because you plainly know so little about it. You should learn a little before you start throwing words like "ridiculous" around. There's lots of information in the vaccination topic: if you're truly interested have a look. Otherwise remember: an opinion based on ignorance is prejudice.

Gosh there's misinformation already on this thread. It's shocking how little people know, and how much they think they know.

If there reason is that they can rely on other people doing something to there children they would do their own then that is a shity excuse. But I somehow doubt it is.

gosh, is it really that time again?

and so soon.

OP - I suggest you read some of the threads in the vaccination topic. this whole subject is not as black and white as you are trying to mke out.

out of interest, what counts for you as "proper medical reason" for not vaccinating? since you seem to think it would be sensible for parents to vaccinate children who are known to be allergic (and btw a "swollen arm for a bit" is the least of anyone's worries I should think)

hi, Gooseberry - how lovely to see you again

Not every vaccination is successful and not every kid can be vaccinated. However, if sufficient children are vaccinated then the kids who haven't been vaccinated or whose vaccines weren't successful still don't catch the diseases because of something called "herd immunity". There are sufficient immune kids to prevent the disease taking hold even in the kids who aren't immune.

As soon as you start getting parents deciding not to have their kids vaccinated the herd immunity starts to break down. This means the kids who aren't immune because the vaccine didn't work or because there's a medical reason they can't be vaccinated are now at greater risk. That's why it is selfish and anti-social to refuse to have your kids vaccinated.

Children are dying now from diseases that are preventable because they aren't being vaccinated. California is suffering from almost epidemic numbers of whooping cough cases and 5 babies died from it in the first 6 months of 2010.

"The problem we have in the UK is that the diseases being vaccinated against are a distant memory."

In some ways, yes, because people have forgotten that almost everyone had them and almost everyone was fine.

But many do remember: I remember having measles and scarletina. I remember my sisters having mumps. Everyone was fine.

Those giving anecdotes of damage would do well to remember there are many cases of vaccine damage: and if they believe their stories carry weight, they must give weight to those cases also.

Yabu. People don't vaccinate or delay vaccinating for a number of reasons. Ime the ones who don't vaccinate know a lot more about the diseases, their incidence and potential risks than those who do. They tend to have made informed decisions.

diabolo - your husband catching mumps just shows up some of the weaknesses of vaccines - they don't provide lifelong immunity, people catch the diseases when they are older and have a higher risk of complications, herd immunity can't really exist with a vaccine because it doesn't provide lifelong immunity - how many people did your husband infect before he realised he had mumps? Yet the doctor blames it on unvaccinated children when it is just as likely that he caught it from another adult whose immunity has waned.

" So I guess I'm a little biased" You are, but you're lucky (unusual even) that you've had experience of what these diseases can do so close to home. Decades of vaccination have made it extremely rare for people to have experience of certain serious diseases - even younger doctors can sometimes struggle to recognise particular conditions - and this has lulled us into a false sense of security. When people with no experience are weighing the pros and cons, therefore, the biggest 'con' i.e. contracting the disease itself, can often get forgotten.

Hi silver I'm going to because people won't read old stuff and want to be told all over again.

nocake - what do you think about the outbreak of measles in (iirc) Saudi? Where there is herd immunity, and nonetheless there was a measles outbreak (bubbleymummy has the info for this - all reported amny times on the vax topic, btw)

and whooping cough is an interesting one - the current vaccine is known to not protect against one of the current circulaitng strains...

yabu
my dc1 has had all her reccommended vaccinations but dc2 has not. I have my reasons (good ones) and I'm not prepared to have them challenged by blinkered people who think my reasons are 'ridiculous'

Wow OP you are brave...hard hat should be immediately donned!

Herd immunity shmerd immunity.

So we should stop vaccinating completely then? It's a waste of time?.... Or is it just for some people to opt out and trust that the rest of the population - being too stupid to understand the issue - should be immunised instead?