To think 'flu jab for all primary school children is not necessary

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I am entirely conflicted and am hoping that some answers can get this sorted in my head.

I am not anti-vaccine. My child has had all their vaccinations and I think that herd immunity is really important but... she came home with a letter yesterday saying that all Y2 children are being offered the flu jab. Really, do we need to vaccinate against ordinary 'flu? I have only ever had flu once, and yes, it is completely debilitating and probably quite dangerous for those in 'at risk' groups but for your average healthy 6/7 year old? While I'm not anti-vaccination I am not entirely sure that we need to vaccinate against everything, especially things like flu for which you need a new vaccination every year.

I am conflicted because I think that in general, if you are offered vaccinations for something you should take them because herd immunity is the best protection, on the other hand I think this is an entirely pointless vaccine that neither protects from all influenza strains, nor is completely effective.

It's not just me, hubby's grandmother, my 5 year old nephew, my friend and her three kids, my bosses wife, couple of the regs in the pub. Feel really run down and lethargic after it. I won't be getting it again and no one I know is in an at risk group so my kids won't either. Just hate being labelled an 'anti vaxer' on here in other threads for it

And I got it in spring when I was preg. Not autumn

Well I've been ttc for the past few years so I get the flu vaccination each year. This year's vaccination is supposed to be much better than last years. I know what you mean about questioning the usefulness of them though, I never previously got them, only since I've been ttc.

That said, flu can be unpredictable. I actually caught the H1N1 flu virus during the big outbreak some years ago, it was really mild and didn't even last a week for me. In my city though it was the younger, healthy people in their twenties for whom it really severe and I know some people died in some countries (again, teenagers and people in their twenties surprisingly, usually the "strongest" group).

sproketmx - I'm not calling you a vaccine denier, particularly since I've only seen you give a personal opinion about one vaccine. However, I would say that you should look into things a bit more - I mean, given that most of us feel a bit off every so often, wouldn't it be a strange if none of us ever felt ill in the weeks-long time period after having the flu jab?

Rainbunny - it's been theorised that even immunisations against the "wrong" strain of flu can help you fight against whatever strain on flu does come around.

It's like if you were fighting an army of 500 purple germs and needed 500 combined blues and reds to combat them, but the immunisation gave you an army of 250 blues plus whatever blues and reds you already had naturally. Still better than just fighting it with your existing troops.

Thanks for that link LurkingHusband that's the most useful thing I've read so far. Probably will let her have the vaccine as it seems it's only very severe egg allergy that might be a problem. Ironically in 2 years she's only ever had time off school on win Y1, and it was for flu!

The flu vaccines are 'dead' vaccines, which means there shouldn't be any side effects. In the past, maybe till the 80s, they used 'live' vaccines which meant some people did get sick.

There are well documented reasons behind people feeling bad after having a flu vaccine, it's generally due to the fact they simply get a cold, and then blame it on the vaccine - confirmation bias.

I'm one of our Trust's flu vaccinators and have just completed this year's refresher training ready for this year's round of vaccinations so am pretty clued up on the ins and outs.

There honestly aren't enough hours in the day to address and correct all the misinformation in this thread but it does reinforce my viewpoint that the public desperately needs more education and concise factual information.

Its not a live vaccine.
You got ill.
It's called coincidence.

mrssmith79 yes yes yes -totally agree there is a lot of misinformation and quite frankly frightening health beliefs on this thread.
More education is needed on this subject

Cold type symptoms are however a known side effect of the jab, classed at mild they affect up to about 15% of recipients. This is in the information leaflet.

The incidence of the serious side effects is very low.

The info is all published, and easy to find online, if you want to research the risk/benefit yourself.

It's a spray, so no big deal. Not a jab.

It's because kids are the ones spreading it about. Immunise the kids, keeps the rates lower for everyone else.

The tiredness and lethargy are in the side effects list. I would just rather take my chances of getting the flu twice every 30 or so years than make myself feel crap with every annual vaccine. And I wasn't called in on this one but have been on others despite this being the only one I hate and the reason I hate it is because I actually got it once and it was crap after and people said they'd been the same. I also managed to get rubella after having the mmr then had to have it again later in life

Fluenz pack information insert here: www.medicines.org.uk/emc/medicine/29109

Jab pack information insert here (hope I'm linking the right year): www.medicines.org.uk/emc/medicine/21154

The under-18s nasal spray vaccine IS a live vaccine. It's the injectable vaccine for over 18s and those that can't have the live vaccine that receive the inactivated version.

It can make you feel a bit grot for a few days with mild flu-like symptoms, but even the live vaccine can't give you actual flu.

I'm like CPTart - I'm a practice nurse delivering the flu vaccine every year and whilst myself and 2 of my 3 DDs have it due to our medical situation I wouldn't rush to vaccinate my healthy children, unless they had classmates with a medical condition that made them especially vulnerable.

I thought it was a live one. The kids hv gave us a leaflet on it and I admit to binning it before giving it a proper read but I was sure that it said it was live.

The vaccine makes me ill. I've had it six times, it definitely does. Not saying it gives me flu, i know it cant, but i do react badly to it. Still have it, i'd rather feel extra crap for two weeks a year than die of something preventable.

MrsSmith and TableandChairs... Your knowledge would be most welcome. Please do share.

i have agreed for my DD to get it (also in yr2) because she always gets flu! Once its in the house it puts me at risk (asthma) my mum (elderly) my brother (post viral syndrome) my sister in law (compromised immune system).

If we were all healthy i might think twice, but i'd rather she had it than put us all at risk if she catches it again!

I am pro vaccine in general. However, I wouldn't allow him to have a flu jab. This is because I have read a few times of children developing narcolepsy after having it. Unlikely? Yes. Worth taking the risk when he's not at particular risk of flu related complications? No.

I understand the conflict, we do seem to be increasing the circles who are immunised against it and I suppose it is too soon to discover if population rates decline. It does seem like an expensive experiment in reducing flu numbers. My eldest son is 2 years old and asthmatic, fairly severely. I had to take the NHS guidance to my GP Last winter to get him vaccinated, he was not invited for one (I am also asthmatic and have just received my text to invite me to attend) and the GP was very unsure of the guidance. It does seem they forget about certain vulnerable groups when mass imms are introduced, he did not fall into the age group for the nasal and was therefore ignored. If his brother (two weeks old) is not asthmatic he will probably not be jabbed when offered unless there is compelling evidence otherwise. As was said up thread the vulnerable who can and are offered the jab should accept it though many do not, I think they should be better targeted rather than immunising lots of children.

captaincake
The link was with the H1N1 jab and then only one brand called pandemrix. In China there was no vaccination against H1N1 in 2009 but there was still 3 fold rise narcolepsy cases as well.