To wonder why on earth you would not vaccinate your DCs?

[olimpia]

I hear from another thread that some people choose not to vaccinate their DCs at all and I'm genuinely interested to hear why because I can't think of a single reason not to. I can perhaps understand opting out of the MMR if someone believes the bad press (not that I do) but all the other vaccinations? Why, oh why?
(not a troll! Just relatively new to MN)

If someone is torn about whether to vaccinate or not (and I know some people genuinely are), one of the difficult things, I think, is the feeling that it's worse to do something that actively harms your child rather than one that passively harms it by omission, iyswim. So you may know that the risks attached to measles are much greater than the risks attached to being vaccinated against measles, but you also know how bad you'd feel if you vaccinated your child and it became very ill as a result. You can always put off the decision to vaccinate, but you can't put off the decision not to vaccinate - once it's done, it's done.

EasilyBored I have never heard about a booster for the MMR when you are in your teens. Having one would make sense.

But then we are supposed to have boosters all through our adult life and very few of us actually bother with it (unless working in conditions where there is a clear risk).

hackmum

Hit the nail on the head there.

I can't get over the fact though that your choice, your omission, may harm someone else - taking away their choice altogether

When DD2 was born I met a Mum with a baby same age - both just a few weeks old. Mum proudly informs me her baby wasn't going to have ANY immunisations at all - not just MMR, but no polio, tetanus etc either - nothing & she was in fact very well informed about all of it and was I going to subject my DC to the horrors of immunisation???

In the next moment she tells me how they were planning to travel for a least 12 months with young baby throughout India & SE Asia.

I tried VERY hard not to catsbummouth - smile and nod, smile & nod!!!

The teenage booster for MMR in teens is only if you haven't had two doses of MMR as a child. (It is asked for by universities, pre admission).

Why is it asked by Uni???

Close proximity, more chance of colonisation and contagion on campus.

Grammar I was immunised against rubella aged 13.

I was immune when PG with DD1. I was NOT IMMUNE when PG with DD2!!! I lost my immunity. I was very thankful that due to immunisation rubella outbreaks are rare.

However due to the high number of children not immunised there had been outbreaks of rubella in West London in the recent past so I did avoid those children I knew to be unimmunised.

As one friend put it "Rubella is no threat to my children so I don't mind if they get it". But it could have made MY unborn child irreversibly blind/brain damaged. Lovely!

No I understand the reasoning about it.
But is it a 'requirement', ie can't go to Uni if you haven't had X vaccination? Do they do that with all the other vaxs too?

HipHop, that's what I was talking about.
That as adult we loose that immunity.

So the issue is, is it better not to vaccinate and to have the majority getting the illness when they are little and it's not such a big deal. Or vaccinate and then hAve the risk of being ill as an adult when it is a big issue?
Or perhaps vaccinate adults rather than children?

Having 100% of children vaxs isn't going to happen. Even in countries where people aren't so much against the vax, the take up rate is not over 70%. So it will always be around.

olimpia-we have been abroad to lots of places including a couple of less developed countries,Including India,we didnt vax.

I think that it highly irresponsible. I can see someone perhaps taking the risk themselves (I wouldn't) but not for their children.

I dont think you are getting this though.I dont believe vaccinating takes away the risk of catching the disease.

It may not take away all the risk, but it does reduce the risk of catching it and often means if they do it is less severe.

LadyinDisguise I was immunised against rubella aged 13. They immunised girls only, at puberty, which makes sense.

Had children not been immunised routinely these days, my unborn child would have been at a greater risk as presumably outbreaks of rubella would be much more common and I would not have known that I had lost my immunity. We were effectively protected by the herd.

sigh.

We do not have herd immunity to rubella in the UK.

Both my boys had rubella when they were under a year. I think there is more about than you think.

Unless you have an allergy which means you obviously cannot vaccinate then I don't understand it either. It's selfish and dangerous and very stupid people that believe a few anecdotes rather than real facts do it.

I had an MMR booster at 14

Krum, read the thread.

I don't need to have boosters because I had measles, mumps, rubella and whooping cough when I was younger.

Sorry cuddler I know it must be frustrating for you but I don't get it here. How can you not believe that for the vast majority of people having a vaccination prevents a catching a disease. I mean it's undisputed scientific data. Am I missing something?

cuddler
I dont think you are getting this though.I dont believe vaccinating takes away the risk of catching the disease.

So you don't 'believe' in science or modern medicine I guess. VAccines are no different to any other drug. They're tested, they work (or not and the same risk of shitty behaviour from the drug companies as any other medicine) and they're rolled out. I really don't understand the hoo hah about them other than the fact that they're preventive so people don't see the lives saved as opposed to curative when you do. Some children react badly to antibioics but we still give them. It's not a belief system!!!

They're not miracles, they're not mysterious. Most work very well and have saved millions of lives and we're extremely lucky to not have to expose our children to these diseases which can and do kill and maim (a small percent, yes, I know, most do indeed survive them but some don't, enough for me thanks).So what if they need a booster? Big deal! I think vaccines are absolutely fantastic but as with any intervention there are risks involved (extremely tiny for most modern vaccinations compared with benefits, especially for the really nasty diseases).

I feel so sorry for the parents of children who cannot be vaccinated - and often have compromised immune systems - that those who can and should vaccinate don't. But I'm sure the pendulum will eventaully swing the other way once children start getting measles and whooping cough again. Shame that there will be deaths and permanent disabilities along the way. makes me a bit sad.

But Starlight that isn't how statistics work. If you toss a coin and get tails, that doesn't mean that your "risk" of getting tails was 100%.

Elaine, there already are large outbreaks of whopping cough - not because people aren't being vaccinate (it has quite a high uptake rate) but because its protection doesn't last.

I have just read an article which suggests that for that reason they are considering introducing a whooping cough booster for teens as older teens and those in early 20s seem to be most vulnerable to whooping cough at the moment.