Kids vaccinations - I would like the view from mothers

[OddJobMan]

Hi All.

First off I am a man before you ask but would love the view from Mothers perspective.

I reside on another forum and the discussion on kids vaccinations came up... one guy (who is not a parent) said he believes that the government should make it compulsory for parents to vaccinate their children and be fined if they don't. I personally believe vaccinations are a good thing but forcing more and more on parents and throwing legal action at them on ever little thing is going a step too far and where does this control stop..

So what say you Mums... should..

A. The government force vaccinations on children and fine parents that don't.

or

B. Leave it up-to the parents to decide.

As much as I believe in promoting vaccination, I'm not comfortable with it being legally mandated, particularly given that some vaccines do have certain (small) risks.

Agree with compulsory vaccinations for school attendance though.

I think as well that before any mandatory stance was taken there would have to be a complete overhaul of the vaccine compensation programme.

The saga of the Pandermix vaccine issues is still rumbling on and it's farcical.

If we're going to force people to vaccinate their kids then we have to have a proper fit and prompt compensation scheme for the times when it does go wrong.

Banning DC who are unvaxxed and who do not have a valid exemption from nurseries and preschools would be straightforward. They are below the compulsory school age so there is no requirement to provide places for all.

Toastie 'By school age, all children are vaccinated unless their parents have chosen not to go this route, so the unvaccinated children will only infect each other (which is clearly what their parents want for them)."

The three unvaxed kids at our nursery got pertussis. It dragged on for weeks and they had a bad time of it but recovered.

One vaxed but immunocompromised child caught it and was hospitalised. Extra distressed as she spent so much time in hospital anyway. Her parents were beside themselves. This was a potentially dangerous situation for her.

One baby brother (too young to vax) caught it and was hospitalised for weeks, very ill indeed.

Parents have to have the right to choose, without consequences to their children's social interactions or education. Anything else is just too much unwarranted state control over something so personal. I realise that the effect of mass unvaccination has an effect on a population and it's not only at a personal level that vaccination makes a difference, but it has to be seen as a personal choice whether to inject your own or your child's body with chemicals and live diseases.

Vaccine damage exists, governments really shouldn't be in a position to force people to take that risk, no matter how small it is. We either value the right to choose what happens to our own bodies, in every aspect of life, or we don't.

Why did you feel the need to announce that you're male?
Why do some men do this?

Osolea: Not a popular view, but I think you are absolutely right.

I agree with Osolea too BUT so many of the people making the decision not to vaccinate aren't making a truly informed decision, it is usually based on conspiracy theory bullshit they've read online or anecdotal stories from like minded people i.e. Hardly reliable sources

Yeah sorry but this is rubbish. As I said, I'm not a fan of the govt. interference, but this is basically a child protection issue. You are harming other children as well as your own when you don't have them vaccinated.

It's times like this when we should say "actually, seeing as you have no proper medical exemption from vaccinating your child, we're taking them off you until you can learn to parent properly".

Very, very few people are making informed decisions on this because if they were, they'd realise other than a pre-existing medical condition or an allergy, there's no reason not to vaccinate.

Am I missing something here? (I am prepared to hear a resounding 'yes'!). Surely if your child is vaccinated then an unvaccinated cannot pass on the virus/bacteria? So not a risk to your child.

Fwiw I totally believe in vaccinations (why wouldn't any sane person!) and I wouldn't want an unvaccinated child near mine. But I'm not sure the reasoning is sound as the whole point of being vaccinated is that you then cannot get that disease?

The lack of acceptance that sometimes people are understandably nervous - Pandermix for example - doesn't help. I get nervous vaxing my kids because we mix socially with two children damaged by a vaccine. Each time I've talked it through and mine have had all theirs, but people telling me my fears are/were nonsense or whatever didn't help. Proper facts and figures helped.

Instead of getting heavy handed and just brushing off concerns people have a proper education campaign (which should include accurate details of how many people have adverse reactions to show the beneficial impact to the majority) would be much more effective and also cost far less.

Am I missing something here? (I am prepared to hear a resounding 'yes'!). Surely if your child is vaccinated then an unvaccinated cannot pass on the virus/bacteria? So not a risk to your child.

Some children can't have the vaccinations for health reasons or age. So the non vaccinated children are endangering their peers who already have lowered immunity or who are young.

Making them compulsory is wrong but no way should an unvaccinated child be allowed at school or nursery (unless unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons). My daughters school just had an outbreak of measles. 6 kids and 2 teachers. I think it's terrible that you can teach and not be vaccinated, I'm a healthcare worker and I had to prove I was vaccinated or I wouldn't be allowed in hospital and quite right too. I just had twins when the outbreak happened at my daughters school and had to take these two tiny babies, too young to vaccinate against measles into a place I knew could be infectious to collect my older kids. Why should personal choice be more important than endangering infants?

The non vaccination people are relying on the majority of parents who do vaccinate. Their children directly benefit from herd immunity. This is a supremely arrogant stance to take imo.

Smallpox has been eradicated, polio is almost eradicated. Children no longer routinely die of diphtheria.

I disagree with people being forced to accept medical treatment of any kind, but they need to know that they're still benefitting from vaccination and that their position is absolutely wrong and very harmful.

Am I missing something here? (I am prepared to hear a resounding 'yes'!). Surely if your child is vaccinated then an unvaccinated cannot pass on the virus/bacteria? So not a risk to your child.

That's not quite the whole picture. If your DC is vaccinated, then chances are they are immune.

But for some, the vaccine might not 'take' in the first place. Or might wear off too early.

ClaireH26 The teachers may not have been unvaccinated. A friend of mine found she had no immunity to several things when she was pregnant, yet she had been vaccinated. Either they didn't take or they had worn out over the years.

"Why did you feel the need to announce that you're male?
Why do some men do this?"

It is rather annoying, isn't it? Lo, a man has come among us! Someone who points out he has bollocks - perhaps in the hope he won't be accused of talking bollocks.

The sex of the poster is utterly irrelevant for this thread, and I don't see why it was necessary to mention it at all.

After all, there are a number of male regular MNers and those who stick around don't make a song and dance about it.

Could be worse, though. Could be a journo researching.

Lots of other countries you have to provide proof of vacs (or a doctors note if unable to) to go to school and I think it is a good idea to protect those with medical issues, pregnant mothers etc.

I don't think it should be enforcable - I don't think it could be, how would you deal with delaying them for illness for example? The nurse felt my DS was good for his MMR, but I disagreed. I knew he was coming down with something and I knew he tended to get under the weather after vaccinations. How could I prove that?

If it is no vax = no school then you have until your child is 5, delaying by a week or two would not be a problem.

I don't think it should be forced but I do think you should not be able to access school / childcare paid for by the state if you don't vax (unless there is a very good medical reason or other like you have all your vaccines from a US schedule and you will be attending school in the UK for 6months).

There is really no room for other opinions on MN when it comes to this topic is there? You do realise that most of these diseases had all but disappeared in this country prior to the vaccinations being introduced and that this was due to increased hygiene, people learning about hand washing etc.
Calling all those people who haven't vaccinated crazy, hippies, stupid etc is unfair. They will in most cases have done more research than a lot of those who do vaccinate. Most parents who do not vaccinate are highly educated people, they are not stupid.

I know a parent who didn't want her immune compromised son vaccinated with MMR because of his medical condition. She was taken to court (not sure if it was hospital or SS) and it was ruled the child should have the vaccines as it was in his best interest due to his condition.

The child died shortly after, his mother blames the vaccine.

I think you are being naive to think the UK doesn't force you to vaccinate your child.

I was reported to SS after a visit to A&E due to a football injury because my ds aged 15 is not up to date with his vaccinations. I kid you not he is now on the At Risk register.

The whole thing is a farce.

I have now been given a form to fill in and told to make an appointment for him to have his vaccinations.

If we're going to force people to vaccinate their kids then we have to have a proper fit and prompt compensation scheme for the times when it does go wrong

I don't want compensation if things go wrong I want a well child. I have seen what happens first hand when things go wrong and wouldn't wish it on my worse enemy. No money can replace a child's life

Illstartexercisingtomorrow

Well my DS2 wasn't able to have most of his vaccines as a child so anti-vaxxers would have put him at risk. It's only been in the past few years where his condition got better enough for him to have them. I'm glad really as no doubt there are weird anti-vaxxer parents at his high school who haven't given their kids theirs.

And for the "well what if things go wrong!" parade - yes, some things do go wrong occasionally. But that's the gamble we take with any medical procedure - heck, even having a filling in your tooth has a lot of risks. The majority have no issues though and we have to think in terms of the bigger picture.