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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Why are all children being immunised against flu?

383 replies

MiniChedda · 13/10/2016 21:29

I am curious about this, my y1 DC is due to get it at school next week.

DD had flu but it was no worse than a sickness bug.

Wouldn't it be better to give the meningitis vaccine instead as it's so much more serious?

OP posts:
KayTee87 · 13/10/2016 21:41

As others have said the flu is really awful, people get a bad cold and think it's the flu but it's really not. My husband and I have asthma so are invited to be vaccinated. We don't usually as we're both very healthy, I did last year as I was pregnant. We both will be this year to protect our 10 week old baby more than anything as he's too young to receive it.

TamzinGrey · 13/10/2016 21:42

It's because flu can kill, and small children will pass it on to others very easily. It's not only the elderly who are vulnerable, but also pregnant women. I know this from bitter experience having miscarried a much longed for baby because I caught a flu bug from somebody.

hildredmubble · 13/10/2016 21:42

"Swine 'flu" is now considered 'normal 'flu'. Swine 'flu is H1N1, which has been in the vaccine for a few years now.

Tamiflu doesn't work particularly, the evidence is very weak. Your DD probably didn't have 'flu, and got better quickly because it wasn't 'flu.

The evidence for Tamiflu is poor. The evidence for the vaccine is good. Yet you gave her tamiflu, but question the vaccine?

adagio · 13/10/2016 21:43

I always assumed kids were immunised for flu as they are so crap at covering their mouths and washing hands etc. I thought that (in the nicest possible way) no one really gives a monkeys about a healthy kid having a shit few weeks with flu, but it's to protect the trail of destruction one ill kid can do in a community.

Original poster
MiniChedda · 13/10/2016 21:43

Aren't elderly, pregnant and high risk people vaccinated anyway though?

OP posts:
NameChanger22 · 13/10/2016 21:44

Hildredmubble - Last year wasn't spot on at all. At my child's school nearly all the children were immunised, soon after more than half the school went down with a really nasty flu bug. My daughter was one of the few that wasn't immunised and one of the few that didn't get the bug.

Original poster
MiniChedda · 13/10/2016 21:45

Yes she defiantly had flu, ther silts were sent to our local hospital and back the next day (think it was 24 hrs?). It was negative for influenza A but positive for influenza B, or the other way round. She did have flu though and tamiflu worked insanely fast.

OP posts:
greathat · 13/10/2016 21:46

I've had flu turn into pneumonia. COuldn't work for 2 months and it took months more to recover. My kids are both asthmatic. Their friend has allergies that prevent her from having some vaccinations. I will have them vaccinated for themselves, for their vulnerable grandparents and for their friend who relies on herd immunity (and no we are not cows!)

NameChanger22 · 13/10/2016 21:46

Some people just believe everything they are told.

Original poster
MiniChedda · 13/10/2016 21:46

*the swab

OP posts:
lougle · 13/10/2016 21:47

Fit, healthy, young men having to have blood removed from their bodies and oxygenated before being returned to their bodies via tubes, because their lungs can't be used to do it even with ventilators. Tracheostomies. As close to death as they can be and in need of extensive rehabilitation. That's what real flu looks like.

And people say 'but they didn't quite get it right last year and poor Lucy did get the sniffles for two days afterwards....' as a reason not to vaccinate Confused.

I don't even have to leave my clinical area to get vaccinated. One of our nurses is our official vaccination nurse and she'll be vaccinating me tomorrow. I'll even get a shiny red badge to wear Grin

Original poster
MiniChedda · 13/10/2016 21:49

So it's for herd immunity for those who are vulnerable but can't have the vaccine for medical reasons?

OP posts:
Mari50 · 13/10/2016 21:49

Kids are supervectors and spread the virus far and wide- friends/parents/grandparents.
My view is that the flu vaccine for kids is invariably for the health of the herd and nothing to do with the threat to the child as an individual - which is why my DD doesn't get it. I'm pro vaccine but not when it's not for my child's best interests.
Incidentally in the US the cdc have recommended that the AstraZeneca vaccine not be used in the is this year as the efficacy last year was 3%. The U.K. is happy to invest tens of millions though.

HermioneWeasley · 13/10/2016 21:50

namechanger what a powerful anecdote. That one off story which may or may not be accurate has completely made me change my mind about the national picture.

Wow, do I feel silly

hildredmubble · 13/10/2016 21:50

Last year in my locality was spot on, with swab confirmed H1N1.

Not all vulnerable people are or can be vaccinated. The nasal vaccine is live, so slightly more effective for building herd, rather than personal, immunity.

The question to ask is whether your DD has grandparents she loves? Or friends who could be on immunosuppressives? Are you willing to teach her we are part of a community? Or that we should only do things that directly benefit ourselves?

madamginger · 13/10/2016 21:51

Last years flu jab wasn't effective, each year is basically a guess of which strains are likely to appear that year and they do it in Spring.
The flu jab has had the swine flu h1n1 strain in it for the last 6/7 years at least.
I always have my children vaccinated, ds1 had swine flu as a baby and was hospitalised, it was awful.

AgathaMystery · 13/10/2016 21:51

This year's vaccine is totally different to last year. It's is generally accepted now that last year was not an effective vaccine, & I think that has really damaged the public trust in it.

Please think carefully about vaccination - early this year myself and my family all caught H1N1 & I was so frightened I would die. Kissing my DC goodbye as I was taken into resus was the worst moment of my life. I thought I would never see them again.

8 months on I am still recovering. This illness is absolutely devastating. We were vaccinated last year & will be again this year. Even if the vaccine spares one life, it is worth it, because flu is a horrible death. It is like drowning, & no one can help you.

HermioneWeasley · 13/10/2016 21:51

mari you sound lovely

I hope you never have to rely on your community or society for anything

Do you live self sufficiently on an island somewhere?

Stopyourhavering · 13/10/2016 21:51

Name changer...you need to educate yourself

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity?wprov=sfsi1
Flu is a killer...especially for the young, the elderly and the immunocompromised ( Ie those having chemotherapy, organ transplant patients etc) and those with pre existing medical conditions

scaevola · 13/10/2016 21:52

As with most infections, if is possible to have a mild case of flu, or even a sub-clinical infection.

But full-on flu is no joke whatsoever, and (historically) some strains have a very high death rate (including the young and well nourished).

hildredmubble · 13/10/2016 21:52

Kids are supervectors and spread the virus far and wide- friends/parents/grandparents.
My view is that the flu vaccine for kids is invariably for the health of the herd and nothing to do with the threat to the child as an individual - which is why my DD doesn't get it. I'm pro vaccine but not when it's not for my child's best interests.

Fucking hell. No wonder the world sucks just now. Sad

HobnailsandTaffeta · 13/10/2016 21:54

DD2 got flu under age 1. She was very very ill, shaking, fits, couldn't breathe, shadows on her lung ill. She was hospitalised and luckily fine. I gave it to her and it was horrific for me, then her dad got it and was in so much pain he was writhing as if his back was being stabbed for two weeks. Then DD1 got it and was admitted pooing blood.

Mine are getting the jab!

Original poster
MiniChedda · 13/10/2016 21:55

I got all DC vaccinated privately when the seine flu epidemic hit.

I know this sounds selfish but I do feel uneasy about vaccinating DS when he's not the one who's at risk and it may well make him ill.

OP posts:
Original poster
MiniChedda · 13/10/2016 21:56

Maybe I should get the whole family done Confused... ?

OP posts:
IneedAdinosaurNickname · 13/10/2016 21:57

My friends mum caught flu which turned into pneumonia. She also had cancer and was having chemo at the time. She died.

Proper flu is fucking horrendous. I had it last year. I couldn't get out of bed. I managed to crawl to the bathroom to wee. It took over a week to fully recover.