To wonder if my kids have to be vaccinated to go to school?

[Cuddler]

Hi,

My son is due to start school in September this year.Its all sorted,today he went to an induction thing and i got handed a form about which vaccinations he had/hadnt had,and just general health questions.

He hasnt been vaccinated since the ones at 16 weeks,so no mmr.My other 2 children havnt been vaxed at all.Im not asking for opinions on whether this is right as i have made a well informed choice and its something i have thought about for a long time and feel strongly about,I know theres not really a law about kids being vaxed to go to school but i just wondered if anyone knew if the school could "make a fuss" about it,or if anyone has any expereience of this.

Until a couple of months ago were going to home educate so it wasnt an issue,but obviously now hes going so just wanted to ask.

"i have made a well informed choice"

albeit entirely misguided!

Bartlet - how on earth can you know whether the choice was misguided or not? are you privy to the medical history of the OP's dc?

allmouth I hope those that vaccinated a child without consent were called to account.

Sidge - there was certainly no comeback for the nurse that jabbed newborn dd1 without our consent

silverfrog that's so poor, I find it hard to believe anyone would do that. As in, not that I don't believe you, just that we're so shit hot on consent where I work I can't imagine jabbing a baby without permission!

I got a mouthful from a woman yesterday because I wouldn't just vaccinate her friend's daughter that she'd kindly brought to imms clinic, and insisted on speaking to the mother first.

Soozy- no i wouldnt.

Bartlet-were all guided in our choices one way or another,whether its by mainstream info from the nhs or looking elsewhere.I feel its something personal to each person,from the info i had read,from both sides,i feel most comfortable not vaccinating,there are other reasons too,but i wont go into them.I personally feel like its the right decision for my kids,people are going to disagree,but then people disagree about most things,like how long you breastfeed for,if you send your kids to school and if you let them sleep in your bed.You can probably guess where i stand in those arguments.Like i said,its personal choice.

oh, it was really shocking, tbh. dh and I said 'hang on, we don't want her to have that one (hep B), and the nurse went ahead, did it, and said 'there, all over, and it didn't hurt at all - she didn't even cry'

we were bewildered more thn anything else - whether dd1 cried or not was not exactly part of our reasoning...

I had an awful time getting the nurse who gave dd1 her mmr to answer any questions I had too (reasonable ones! not autism related, so not tricky ones to answer) - until I pointed out to her, when she got really huffy and snapped at me to sign the consent form, that it would be meaningless as not informed consent since she was ignoring any queries I had (and had refused to give me the package insert to read...)

Sidge, that's unforgivable of the woman. You did the right thing, morally and legally, Christ, could she not realise what would kick off if you'd agreed to vax her friend's child?!

I'm in West Sussex and DS5 hasn't had his MMR yet and it wasn't a problem when he started school. I'll get him done this summer as I delay (DS3 & 4 had it at 4) rather than not get them at all.

That's terrible silverfrog and I bet it totally destroyed any confidence you may have had in your HCPs.

you don't NEED to be but the school should make a note of which children haven't and alert the school nurse so that (if like recently happened in my school ) measles enters the school then the chidlren who haven't been immunised can be warned and offer the vac if their parents want it, if they didn't then school just watched closely and sent home at the slightest thing. Thankfully all our's who had missed for whatever reason had the jab and we contained the outbreak to two boys who are cousins in 1 year group!

oh, that and the denying of any of dd1's health issues over the years....

but hey, all part of life's rich tapestry, as they say

Graham I know, it was horrible. She got so loud and rude and we had a whole waiting room next door who could hear her effing and blinding at me but as I was trying to be polite and calm they obviously only heard her side of things

I explained why I needed to speak to the child's mum but because she had to go outside and get her from the car and mum "doesn't do injections" it was all a great big unnecessary hoo-ha. She (mum) really didn't seem to understand why I needed her permission to vaccinate her preschooler; I think she thought her friend could just rock up with her child and I could do anything to her!

nope they dont have to be vaccinated to go to school, my elder 3 are at school and ds4 starts next sept, the eldest has had the first few vaccinations ie the ones at 2, 3 and 4mths but no others and the others havent had any at all.

i just wrote on their forms that they hadnt had them, has never been an issue :)

Cuddler people are going to disagree,but then people disagree about most things,like how long you breastfeed for,if you send your kids to school and if you let them sleep in your bed.You can probably guess where i stand in those arguments.Like i said,its personal choice.

But deciding for or against those particular things don't endanger the lives of innocent people, and only affect you and your family who have made those decisions, whereas choosing not to immunise (unless for allergic reactions etc) can endanger the lives of innocent people who happen to come into contact with your DC if they catch these illnesses.

There is no legal need to be vaccinated in England. You were probably handed the leaflet as part of a campaign to up the vaccination rate, as there have been cases of various diseases locally because of a lack of "herd" immunity due to a low vaccination rate (in Surrey I know there has been Measles and Whooping Cough recently).
I have never known kids be vaccinated without consent, and very few vaccinations happen in school until secondary age.

I did have to boost my son at Secondary as they picked him for some "sample" health check (just weighing I think, and he's not fat), but at 12 he didn't want to do it. They tried to get him to nag me to sign the form, "reminding" him the day before. I just re-enforced to him that I hadn't signed as he didn't want the check, and he just made sure he wasn't around for it. I believed that at 12 he had a right to decide for himself.

Hypothetical question. 99.7% of cervical cancers are caused by the HPV virus. Gvmt has introduced a vaccine for teenagers against this virus, starting 2008, blanket coverage 2011. If it wasn't for teenagers, or your DD couldn't make the choice, would you give her the protection, or risk cancer?

If anyone asks where that statistic is from, its from the waiting room in my hospitals gynaecology diagnostics dept, where I have just been for a biopsy following abnormal smear.

The HPV vaccine wasn't available to me at school, but if it was, and my mother denied it to me, I'd possibly never forgive her. If I died from cancer, she probably wouldn't forgive herself.

Another hypothetical question- what about when travelling abroad? Would you avoid rabies, malaria, yellow fever vaccines, preferring to take a chance?

The hpv vaccine doesn't cover all strains of hpv though and girls who have had the jag still need. To go for all the smears which some probably won't because they'll think they're safe when they aren't and they will die.

I'll be advising my DD to always use condoms ( until ttc and partner has check) rather than that jag.

I wonder if you walked into an oncology dept, Macmillan ward or hospice and asked the patient & parents there if they would take a quick jab at 15 over an early grave (I've just turned 25, btw) what their response would be.

And foreign travel? A friend of mine is travelling round Indonesia & east Asia for 5 months. If her mum suggest she take her chances with malaria, rabies, etc I suspect she'd get told where to go, post haste.

Oh well, Darwinism and all.

To me, jab, condoms and regular smears all together seem the safest option. A smear every 5 years won't stop any abnormal changes, only see them if they are there. And as we can't have smears until 25 in this country I think the more protection for girls the better.

HPV isn't picked up in regular STD checks, anyway.

Tbh i think if you have questions about vaccines you need to do your own research.I could go on and on all day about them but theres no point.I don't believe they are necessary or that they actually work.If the vaccines you have so much faith in actually work then you would have nothing to worry about surely?

For the person who asked about going abroad,we have been to India,and we didnt take the vaccines.

You don't believ they work...?

What he actual fuck?

That's why our kids are being blighted with polio left, right and centre...

Yes they need to be vaccinated, yabu for even asking.
The reason all the nasty diseases are in the past is because of the vaccination programme.
It is people that don't vaccinate that endanger pregnant womens unborn babies as measles, polio etc are all coming back into society.
Please vaccinate your dcs, is important for everyones health that these diseases are vaccinated against.
All 4 of my dcs have had them, and have never had the diseases they have been vaccinated against, the jabs did them no harm at all