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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have not let her have the meningitis vaccine?

241 replies

jadorecakesnbiscuits · 19/10/2015 07:53

My daughter is 15 weeks and she goes for her second lot of vaccinations today, with her first lot I was happy for her to have them all apart from the new meningitis because it had only been around for about 4 weeks when she had her first lot and I didn't like how I had to give her calpol as it would cause a spike in her temp, also I just don't trust it.

Now I'm starting to wonder if I was a dick for not letting her have it? I'm not anti vax at all I just don't like this one and what it would do to my baby, has anyone else refused this vaccine? The nurse tried to argue with me and I'm anxious she's going to pressure me again today!

OP posts:
bumbleymummy · 19/10/2015 15:54

Storm, the MenB vaccine isn't relying on herd immunity. It's being given to the most at-risk groups. So no, what you're saying isn't fact at all.

Ricardian · 19/10/2015 15:55

Mums were getting on their high horse and saying it was terrible.

In the conspiracy world in which vaccines are dangerous and manufacturers, doctors and government knows this and yet still the programme continues, what explanation is advanced for why governments continue to fund it?

TaliZorah · 19/10/2015 16:00

Storm so vaccinate your children. I'm not complaining about people who vaccinate or who make a different choice to me. If you vaccinate yours what difference does it make?

I'm not against vaccines, and will vaccinate against most illnesses. However I'm not going to do something I perceive as risky. That's not that I'm happy for others to die! It's that DS has already been ill and has allergies and I don't want to risk a reaction. I don't think any parent thinks "oh I'm not going to vaccinate so other kids can die!". People have their reasons.

Thanks to the other replies, I don't know why they get so heated! And I'm very sorry Sugar about your daughter

Ricardian · 19/10/2015 16:03

However I'm not going to do something I perceive as risky.

So increasing by about 35% the risk of your child contracting meningitis isn't risky?

Ricardian · 19/10/2015 16:09

If you vaccinate yours what difference does it make?

Oh, and the answer to that is "because vaccines aren't 100% effective". One of the straw men beloved of anti-vax campaigners is that it doesn't matter to the vaccinated that they (they anti-vaxers) are exposing their child to increased risk, because what does it matter to those that are vaccinated? The answer is that (a) there's a substantial pool of people who can't be vaccinated even if they want to be and (b) there's a low, but distinctly non-zero, incidence of people who are vaccinated but do not acquire immunity. If you can figure out why, your PhD in immunology is assured, but for now 99+% is fine, so long as there is also herd immunity of 95+%.

If everyone is vaccinated then diseases can't spread because there are so few hosts, and eventually become extinct; smallpox vaccines and polio vaccines are no more effective than any other vaccines, it was mass immunisation for fifty or more years that extinguished the diseases. If it were as simple as the anti-vaxers risking their own children it would be bad enough, but they aren't: they're also risking newborns, and the immunosuppressed, and cancer patients, and a small but non-zero proportion of vaccinated children and adults.

You don't just have an MoT test to protect you and your passengers, it's to protect the people stood at the bus stop too.

bumbleymummy · 19/10/2015 16:16

Ricardian, in this case there is a very large pool of people who aren't being vaccinated seeing as it's only being rolled out to certain age groups so Tali's choice not to vaccinate her child is really not going to impact on your child anymore than the 1000s of other children who won't be offered the vaccine at all.

sugar21 · 19/10/2015 16:20

Well said bumblymummy

slightlyconfused85 · 19/10/2015 16:47

Wow that is so unreasonable. A temperature in a baby for a day or two is seriously better than that baby becoming a child with the potentially deadly disease of meningitis. My baby had it at 8 weeks- he was grumpy for a day and a night but at least I know I've done all I can to ensure he doesn't get meningitis.

coconutpie · 19/10/2015 17:09

Sugar Flowers I am so sorry for your loss.

OP - I am relieved to hear that you have changed your mind. It is worrying that healthcare professionals aren't providing parents with the correct information regarding the MenB vaccine. It has only been offered publicly on the NHS very recently (few weeks / months) but has been available privately for a long while before that. It was licensed in Europe nearly 3 years ago and had trials prior to that.

Regarding side effects - fever is a common side effect with all vaccines (not just MenB) but doesn't happen to all. My baby didn't have a fever at all with any vaccines so far and has had all the scheduled ones as well as the MenB and Varicella vaccines.

Be grateful that you're able to get the vaccine on the public system. MenB is the biggest killer for under 5s and even if a child does survive it, they can be left with horrific after effects such as deafness, brain damage, etc. The fact that scientists have been able to create a vaccine against this horrific disease is incredible (for years they could not due to the complex outer coating of MenB).

Francoitalialan · 19/10/2015 17:13

Ricardian I'm a bit in love with you.

HaydeeofMonteCristo · 19/10/2015 17:35

I paid for DS (then 17 months) and DD (6) to have it. Got it for both as although babies are the high risk I couldn't forgive myself if DD then got meningitis.

I won't lie, DS did get quite a bad temperature with it and was under the weather for a couple of days. But after that he was completely fine, which was more than you could say for someone who got meningitis.

ewanthedreamsheep · 19/10/2015 17:42

yabvvvvu

you're more concerned about a short lived high temperature and having to give calpol, than the risk of meningitis?

TaliZorah · 19/10/2015 18:33

Ricardian but this isn't offered to older children so I'm not posing any more risk than others. Again I'm not anti vaccine, I know about herd immunity however I'm not going to risk my son for herd immunity and it doesn't apply in this case.

While the risk may be 35% higher on paper it's not so black and white in real life. The illness and allergies my son has mean he is more likely to have other allergies, therefore his risk of an adverse reaction is higher than average. He has no older siblings and there aren't any other young children in the family, meaning his risk of meningitis would be lower than "average". It isn't as simple as percentages on paper

Crazypetlady · 19/10/2015 19:06

The o.p was just scared.She changed her mind. She is no longer being unreasonable.
I am so sorry for your loss sugar Flowers

PinkSmiles · 19/10/2015 19:20

As a mother who's child had contracted TWO different forms of meningitis before he was 5 months old, you are being very unreasonable imho

sugar21 · 19/10/2015 19:58

Once again thank you everybody.
Just wanted to add that fatal illness impacts on families. I am no longer married to dd's df. He could not come to terms with her death and started to drink etc. So eventually we split up.
If the vaccine had been offered to me, dd would still be with us and probably I would still be married. Who knows?
Also I do have a much older dd (16) from a previous relationship, but because of what was happening to me and exdh. She now lives with her own df which was her choice.
My point is illness does not discriminate and causes misery, so if its preventable make an informed choice

lachattequirit · 19/10/2015 20:52

People who have had your kids vaccinated privately, where did you do it??
I cant find anywhere local that does this - have tried local several local gp and private hospital. From the reaction I got, it was like I was the only person who had ever asked about it Confused

BlueBlueSea · 19/10/2015 21:08

I do not think you were being unreasonable at all to question the vaccine. Especially if your doctor told you that it was not effective in preventing meningitis.

Alisvolatpropiis · 19/10/2015 21:22

My baby is 18 weeks and just had the second meningitis injection.

Yes her temperature went up, no it didn't actually make her unwell.

Blackpoollassy · 19/10/2015 21:22

Try here www.citydoc.org.uk/

Fugghetaboutit · 19/10/2015 21:49

lachat where are you?

coconutpie · 19/10/2015 21:58

lachattequirit - I got the vaccines administered in a private paediatric practice but it should be available from a GP also. You get the paediatrician / GP to write you a prescription for it, then order it yourself in a pharmacy, then you pick up the vaccine and get it administered by the doctor.

Naty1 · 19/10/2015 22:07

Dd2 had the first vax and did get a temp (8w) but she had spat out most of the calpol.
So anyone going for the menb vax for a baby be prepared that they can spit the calpol out.
For the second and third doses we tried to catch as much calpol as possible with the medicine spoon and shovel it back in (will try to remember to take one when i go for vax)

lachattequirit · 20/10/2015 21:02

We are in Cheshire, near Manchester. I've asked 3 GP practices and none of them could do it. The private hospital I called said they don't do it but one of their paediatricians might at a different clinic, but the number they gave no one ever answers.
1 of the receptionists I spoke to had never even heard of the vaccine Confused I would have thought a lot of people would be asking for it.
Thanks for the link - blackpoollassy, did you use them? I will try tho on the website it doesn't list menb as one of the vaccines they offer.

takemetomars · 20/10/2015 21:38

OK, I have read up to page 3 of this thread but there have been a few things which concern me enough to respond now.
OP, your baby can have her 2 doses of men B at her 2nd and third primary baby immis so don't worry, and yes, baby can have vaccines with the sniffles as long as she is feeding, well in herself and her temperature is OK.
Men B is NOT a new vaccine. It has been used extensively throughout the world in ALL age groups including babies in outbreak situations. The UK is the first country in the world to add it to a national vaccine schedule so the world is watching with interest.
The reason that babies are at risk of moderately high temperatures following Men B vaccination is because it is given at the same time as the five in one which contains pertussis (whooping cough) and it is this combination which induces a reaction in approximately 90% of babies. This is why the parectamol is advised, to prevent fever and subsequent distress to parents and babies and concern in parents. We are not willing/advised to split the vaccines as this means that babies have to make 5 visits instead of 2 and this makes things distressing/complicated and there is a risk that babies will miss parts of the schedule. How would you make the choice as a parent which vaccine could wait/which should be given first when all of them are equally important (it would be unreasonable to ask. a practice nurse to make that choice for you)?
It absolutely has to be your choice and any health professional should give you the time and the information to make an informed decision (although that may mean that you may have to wait until the end of my clinic to have baby vaccinated whilst I get on with my appointments)