To suggest immunisations should be a legal requirement?

[rednailsredheart]

Look at it like this:

Wearing seatbelts it purely a safety issue. It's also a legal requirement in the UK to protect car passengers.

So why is immunisation not a legal requirement?

Likewise, drinking and driving is a criminal offence, due to the danger to the passengers and other drivers/people around you.

But deliberately choosing to let your child become a carrier of a totally preventable disease, infecting people around them (including those too young for immunisations), is totally fine? If someone doesn't vaccinate their child, then the child subsequently becomes gravely ill, why aren't the parents charged with neglect?

Makes me think of this article

ONION

[Likeaninjanow]

Dearteddy...I don't agree that no one has been damaged by vaccinations. In fact, there's a government fund for exactly that, to compensate those affected.

[sliceofsoup]

My children have been vaccinated. I believe in vaccinating.

But I believe that we all have the right to make our own informed choice on any medical procedure more.

The government roll out a law on this and what are they going to inject us with "for our own good" next? Maybe I am paranoid. I don't trust our leaders, because they have shown themselves to be untrustworthy.

[MildDrPepperAddiction]

YABU. Everyone has the choice as to what they put into their/their child's body.

As pp said, no one gets hurt from seat belts. Vaccinations carry risks. That's why you need to sign a consent form, to show you accept the risk. Some people aren't happy to do so.

[tobysmum77]

I dont just judge it on what is best for my child. I would feel awful if one of my dcs infected someone else with something dangerous and I could have prevented it.

But making it a legal requirement to have needles stuck in you is rather against my liberal tendencies

[LongDistanceLove]

The onion? Really?

[mugglingalong]

The trouble is that doctors don't always agree about what medical factors might be counter-idicated. We have a history of bad reactions to vaccines - dsis had anaphylaxis and I had a petit-mal, both within 30 min of different vaccines. One GP was very gunhoe and said couldn't possibly be a link, another refused to risk dc having it done in GP surgery and referred to hospital. Mine have now had vaccines but not on the normal schedule.

[NaiveMaverick]

Vaccines Proven To Cause Sudden Death In Children

There is not only a govt fund to compensate people affected by vaccination, it has paid out lots of times.

And so has the US equivalent. And the funds in other countries......

[Samcro]

yabu
I am pro vaccination, but you are still bu.

and are you going to force people? how?
my child has sn, so because of other young people she should have the flu jab.
she refuses
what should we do,?? knock her out?

[Jessica85]

YABU. Medical procedures must be consented to.

I would strongly object to anyone telling me I must undergo any medical procedure for the good of other people.

[Samcro]

oh and of course doctors are always right

Thalidomide

[Showy]

What a terrible idea. Compulsory injections? Witholding of education? Is this a real suggestion or some dystopian novel you are writing?

[tobysmum77]

I am rather confused about the relevance of thalidomide to this - were people forced into it taking it?

As the sensible people on this thread have said, medical procedures have to be consented to. End of discussion.

[rednailsredheart]

Except that in the 80's vaccination was only just becoming commonplace. Likewise in the US, where their healthcare system is basically archaic, there will always be a high number of undocumented individuals unable to access vaccinations. It is normal for outbreaks to continue for a while after vaccination programmes begin. It's worth pointing out that since the late 80's and 90's, there were virtually no outbreaks until the late 00's, which were due to unvaccinated people travelling abroad and contracting the disease in areas where vaccination was low, then subsequently passing on the disease to other unvaccinated people, or people who were too young to be vaccinated.

San Diego had an outbreak in 2008 due to an unvaccinated person "importing" the disease, and it was their first outbreak in over ten years.

[ghostyslovesheep]

no you can't make it compulsory - you can't force medical procedures on people

all my kids are vaccinated and I am 100% pro vacs - and the government and NHS are very upfront about vaccine risk - it's on all their leaflets! It no big secret

but the risk are higher from the diseases - which is why I chose to vaccinate

[rednailsredheart]

In which case, if people are so righteous about their "right" and "need" to consent to a procedure which could prevent a medical outbreak of an entirely preventable disease, then those people should be prosecuted in the event of an outbreak.

You can't say "it's my choice to have an immunisation" in one breath and then "but it's not my fault that hundreds of people have ended up in hospital and two people are now permanently disabled through direct consequence of my selfishness and idiocy".

[Shakirasma]

Thalidomide
Aspirin for children
Gulf war syndrome

All reasons why medical advice should be considered and researched, not just blindly followed because the doctors and pharmaceuticals say so.

[OfaFrenchMind]

DearTeddyRobinson I am vaccinated, and will encourage other people to vaccinate too.

But forcing people to do it, Or not have any education? That's completely out of order. No matter the risks.

[rednailsredheart]

Shakira - There are probably few areas of medicine more scrutinised and researched than vaccines.

[peggyundercrackers]

YABU - I wonder if there is a vaccine for stupidity?

[lavendersun]

DD isn't vaccinated against MMR, we did try, three times, in a hospital setting with the head of drug allergies involved.

DD had an epi-pen for very severe allergies until she was 8 when she went on a clinically managed allergen re-introduction which was successful.

My experience is that GPs won't vaccinate severely allergic people - ours wouldn't.

If you don't want to vaccinate don't do it but I don't think that allergies should be a barrier to vaccinating with proper care/management/precautions.

Don't get me wrong, I was terrified before each of our appointments but I do believe in vaccinating.

I wouldn't want it to be mandatory though (it was in the US when I lived there).

I don't think that allergies/potential allergies should be used as an excuse though. I know of several children with properly diagnosed severe allergies who have had their vaccinations successfully in hospital.

Unfortunately we weren't one of them - in our case the hospital will re-visit it in another 3 years.

[CaffeLatteIceCream]

No.

I am very, very pro-vaccination and feel genuinely outraged by people who don't have GOOD* reasons for not vaccinating.

But we cannot make it a legal requirement, for many of the reasons given above.

*Good reasons include a history of reaction or other medical concerns. Bollocks read on the internet is not a good reason.

[DropYourSword]

tobysmum I think the link to thalidomide was made to show that Doctors (or probably more accurately pharmaceutical companies) can make mistakes, and sometimes medications that they believe are safe turn out not to be. I don't think anyone was suggesting women were forced to take it.

[Chillyegg]

YABU nobody should be forced into a medical procedure, however better education should be provided about the benefits of vaccination. I get so pissed of in these threads when someone pulls out an obscure Wikipedia article on vaccination.

I have and my children will be vaccinated. I'm also allergic to the HPV jab and the flu jab. I when I was born moved to turkey and had a wide variety of jabs that protected me. My mum got me and my brother vaccinated because there wasn't at that time any provisions closely available in turkey. Also my mum and respective Turkish family new children that were very ill because of diseases that can be vaccinated against on the NHS in this country for free and that couldn't be there. I'm being very preachy but we are very lucky in this country and so many opportunities get thrown away because someone read something online

[letsplayscrabble]

It doesn't have to be a legal requirement, but the payment of child benefit, and the offer of free pre-school education should be contingent on vaccinations being done, unless of course there is a genuine medical reason.

If you don't choose to take reasonable steps to protect the general population, including the vulnerable, including of course your own child, then why should the state support that decision.

[IAmAllImportant]

Medical procedures have to be consented to.

I agree with that, and as a student nurse take care to adhere to it.

However, as a student nurse, I was basically told I had to have the MMR and Hep B jabs or leave the course.

My choice I guess, but a bit of a limited one.

I am very pro vaccination but I do not believe they should be a legal requirement.