To ask if you're NOT vaccinating against Meningitis B what are your reasons?

[DreamCloud99]

Non judgey.

Ours is simply cost - we have twins and can't afford it .

GreatFuckability There are always cases when children genuinely cannot have vaccinations. I certainly would not and do not judge people in your shoes. However, situations like yours make me even more pro-vaccination (for the average child) because we need herd immunity to protect vulnerable children like your ones.

We've forgone our holiday this year and vaxxed oldest dd who isn't on NHS rollout. Thankfully smallest is.

Low risk high stakes. I couldn't live with myself for not doing it, so I've pulled all resources to do so. I appreciate not everyone truly can though.

Some of the initial data on persistence of immunity against one or two of the strains covered by Bexsero isn't great. That's true. But when I looked into this I still decided to vaccinate as other of the data was encouraging and, tbh, a degree of immunity was better IMO than none.

We're in Germany. It hasn't yet been included in the vaccination schedule here but the association of paediatricians here are broadly in support of it. Our paed very much supported our decision. I had both my now 10mo (3 doses, she's had 2) and my 11yo and 8yo (2 each) done. It cost 90 euros per dose plus 15 euros a time for the dr to administer it. The older two did complain of sore arms and, weirdly, the 8yo struggled to sleep that night for no apparent reason, and the baby was a little hot and bothered, but otherwise all was well.

MenB is significantly less prevalent here than in the UK. In the end I weighed the small risk of the dc contracting it against the smaller risk of complications + the cost and decided to vaccinate due to the severity of the potential outcome of contracting it. Importantly, I found the safety data reassuring, though I did worry a bit about the figures quoted for Kawasaki syndrome within 30 days of the vaccination - although a causal link was unclear.

thats useful somerville thank you!

Hay which Bundesland are you in? That's far cheapocheapoe than I ewas quoted. Can each state or paediatrician charge differently? PM me if you do not want to poist where you are (if you don't mind of course).
Thanks xx
Oh and thanks to the two posters who put up the German Umfrage article and who told me about France (am 3 hrs away but could consider it, merci).

Sausage fingers!
Far cheaper than
Post
;-)

though i will say that I don't think either are immune compromised in any way, as at age 12 and 11, they don't seem to get ill anymore than your average kid. they've had chicken pox and we live in the area where the measles outbreak in south wales happened a couple of years ago and neither got sick then. which i realise isn't proof of no immunity issue, but a decent indicator?
also, neither has ever reacted to anything else that way so far. so its a bit of a mystery really.
but i shall certainly look at/contact the link you posted as i'd like to know if there was a reason for it.

zoobeedoo

Lol - nope, not sure you could as the fat is mixed with blood. Lard, Olive oil, other oils.

Kimmy - Was Thüringen damals - have relocated to Brandenburg so we'll see how much dd's 3rd dose costs :)
How about you?
(BTW, my Krankenkasse wouldn't pay but said they would reimburse retrospectively within 3y if the Stiko included it in the schedule - so keeping those prescriptions/bills is worth doing)

I think the 90 euro was standard Apotheke list price - I ordered and collected it from there myself - dr's surgery was just upstairs so it was fine)

breastmilk but it won't be over your dead body, will it? It'll be over someone else's...

Someone who is too young or too poorly to be immunised or is already fighting for their life against cancer and has a compromised immune system.

Well done on your 'reseach' though - I hear YouTube is great for that kind of thing.

I haven't read all of the thread but can I assume the self-educated 'doctors' are out in force?

Yes Gow and those with a doctarate in advanced knowledge in vaccine research who have recieved an OBE.

Seems there's a lot of those on mumsnet....

Gowgirl that's not a very bright comment. You don't have to be a doctor to do intelligent research. I've worked in research for many years in a non-medical field and quite able to read and understand research papers, and in fact have written some. I've probably spent more hours researching vaccination issues than most GPs.

I was recently diagnosed by my gp with a foot problem and referred to a physio who changed the diagnosis to something completely different. He said "With all due respect to your GP, he will have only spent 15 minutes studying foot problems!"

And, several GPs I've visited have looked up ailments online. One had to google my dd's rash. Another had never heard of my dd's ear condition and googled it before referring her to ENT.
I have a lot of respect for (most) GPs but (and I''m sure they will happily admit it) they can't and don't know everything. They just don't have the time to research every new drug or vaccine they're issued with.

I'm assuming that your GP does not get his information from Mercola.com..............

Mine! No idea. Neither do I!

There are also an awful lot of anti-vaxers with very strange very well rehearsed views who seem to hone in on these threads

I call bs. My brother is just finishing his med degree and spent much longer than 15 minutes on foot problems.

And if a gp researches online, they are only doing the same thing as you gertrude so I'm not sure what makes you right and then wrong?

Them wrong... Sorry!

What makes me right about what, Fourfifthsof?

*My own "research" was asking my gp about pros, cons, potential reactions etc because we have a history of severe vaccine reactions in the family. We were referred to a paediatrician for a similar discussion who basically said they were paid to encourage all parents to vaccinate their kids but accepted and understood our concerns and advised me to speak to the Health Protection Agency. Phoned them and was told by someone clueless that "No, the vaccines aren't tested for allergic reactions because there's nothing in them that you can react to. It's like being injected with water." Ugh?!
I read as much information as I could find on (official) websites including www.meningitis.org, www.nhs.uk/meningitis, www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg102/resources
and www.gov.uk/government/publications/meningococcal-b-vaccine-jcvi-position-statement

and decided not to vaccinate based on all of the above. *

I'm assuming that you chose not to vaccinate because you believe that it is the right thing to do.

You researched on the internet to inform your decision but are making a point that GPs are not adequately informed and have to research on the internet.

Having hung around a lot of natural parenting sides and boards over the years there are two types of anti vaxxer. The calm, rational, normal one who has interpreted a wealth of information in a different way to me. Fair play to them. Then there are the 'I'M A NATURAL PARENT, SEE THE AMBER NECKLACE, SCREW BIG pHARMa MAN'. The latter are the ones who have read a link from Mercola or Natural News, clicked share on a David Avocado Wolf meme and declared that everyone else are sheeples.

Most anti vaxxers I 'know', which is a few fall into the former category...but the loudest tend to be the latter.

Yes, Fourfifthsof, as well as speak to our gp and paediatricians, the HPE (now HPE), and the manufacturer of the vaccine. What other research would you suggest I do? Set up my own controlled trial with volunteer babies? I think my own research has been thorough. I don't think or expect a gp to do as much research as I have done into men b vaccinations. Ask your own gp how much research they do into new vaccines.
Anyhow, my point about using the internet was in response to the implication that anyone on here who says they've done research has been "just googling". So, it's ok for GPs to use google for information, but not a layperson?

"I'm assuming that you chose not to vaccinate because you believe that it is the right thing to do."

Erm, obviously. Her GP and paediatricians are happy with that choice. Her allergies are severe and there's a history of vaccine reactions in the family. The likelihood of her contracting men b are very very small. The likelihood of her reacting to the vaccine seems not so small...and there's no way to test it. Therefore, yes, we trully believe iy's the right thing to do.