To ask if you decided not to vaccinate your children

[Mintpepper]

Do you regret it? Did they catch any of the diseases that they could have been vaccinated for and what was the outcome?

And anyone who did get their children vaccinated - did they catch any of the diseases anyway? And do you regret vaccinating for any reason?

This isn't intended to start a debate for or against vaccination generally as that's been done many times, I'm more just interested in your personal experiences if you'd be willing to share them. Thank you.

QuiteQuietly and Soubriquet: what was the time gap between the vaccinations and contracting the disease? As i mentioned, it's now becoming clear that vaccines don't last as long as hoped (certainly not a lifetime, sometimes only a few years), and they could be wearing off. It's also possible that they never 'took' - this happens with a small % of the population.

This isn't intended to start a debate for or against vaccination generally as that's been done many times, I'm more just interested in your personal experiences if you'd be willing to share them.

Then don't stick it in AIBU. And do your own journo research.

I vaccinated both my children against absolutely everything that was on offer, and have absolutely no regrets about doing so. My daughter is on the autistic spectrum and with hindsight the signs were there long, long before she had the MMR. She gets absolutely furious when she hears people blaming the MMR for autism, and rightly so. There's plenty of evidence that autism runs in families, and that applies to ours too.

What squeaver said goes for me too: I'm sorry but there should be no question in your mind about this. If you don't trust scientific research, what not waste your time investigating whether the earth's flat or if there really were dinosaurs rather than something which could kill your child.

We owe it to the families whose children can't be immunised for sound medical reasons, and to all the pregnant women who might pick up rubella from an unimmunised child, and all the people with compromised immune systems. Herd immunity is a wonderful boon. Previous generations (and much of the developing world even now) would have given their eye teeth to be able to save their children from these nasty diseases.

My son had a horrendous time after his vaccinations and ended up in a&e really sick with huge swollen sore legs. He screamed for a week and it was awful to think I had voluntarily did that to him.

Saying that I will be taking him to get vaccinated again still but I can see why people get put off.

I'm asking for people's experiences, nothing more. As I said at least twice, this isn't intended to be a for/against argument I'm simply interested in hearing whether people regretted their decision, whether it was to vaccinate or not. I can't see what there is in that to get angry about

oh and before I vaccinated my kids I did research. I checked how many died from vaccination damage and compared that with the death rates for the diseases.

i believe it's better to be autistic than dead so I didn't research the autism claims.

AndTakeYourHorse why on earth shouldn't it be in AIBU? If you feel strongly that it shouldn't, do go ahead and report it.

vaccinated children can still catch the diseases they are vaccinated against.

But in general they should get it less severely and with fewer side effects to an unvaccinated child.
If your vaccinated chidl was veyr ill, then they would probbly have died if not vaccinated.

I am often surprised to read people talking about diseases like whooping cough, measles and mumps as 'just childhood illnesses'
These diseases used to kill a lot of our children before we started vaccinating.
Some diseases are less severe because we have anti-biotics. Scarlet fever used to kill lots fo kids, but it is treatable with simple anti-biotics. But will the rise in anti-biotic resistant bacteria, we really need to keep up the herd immunity.

I vaccinated both my children and opted for the chicken pox and meningitis B in addition to the routine jabs. Don't regret it for a second. My kids are well protected and both healthy.

You need to speak to a health professional btw, not a load of randomers on the internet. That doesn't count as research.

I'm asking for people's experiences, nothing more. As I said at least twice, this isn't intended to be a for/against argument

Then ask for it to be moved, since AIBU is FOR arguments that you seem disinterested in.
Don't complain to other people when you made the mistake,

I worry for the education system in this country. It seems to turn out people with just enough knowledge to think they know better than the experts, but not enough knowledge to actually know they don't.

This too!

And again thank you to all who are bothering to answer the actual question, I really appreciate it

My DH still suffers from complications caused by measles nearly 40 years ago.

We refused the CP vaccine and regretted it (DC born in a country where the CP vaccine is standard). DC1 caught CP just before DC3 was born. Every doctor was incredulous that we'd potentially put our newborn in that position. I felt terrible.

try reading medical evidence and reviews

then read what andrew wakefield, jenny mccarthy and donald trump say about it

then decide if you have more faith in the entire medical community or some quacks, cheats, liars and playgirls

Mintpepper I can't understand why you can't see why people might get angry at the suggestion that a person might not vaccinate. It effects peoples lives.

I had a friend who died from Luekeamia due to catching an infection. I have the right to be angry that people are so selfish that they chose to put people with reduced immunity at risk (and also their own children).

As others have said don't expect to post an emotive topic and for people not to respond with emotion.

OP, during your on-the-fence research, have you found any compelling reason NOT to vaccinate your child?

I am old enough to have had polio, whooping cough, measles, tb and smallpox vaccines. They were all done for a reason. I also hesitated for five whole seconds before having both kids fully vaxed when dc1 was born mid scandal. I wish the hpv was available in my teenage years as it was agony to go through the tests, worry and procedures associated with cin3. Some kids have reactions, some don't but to my mind, life is one big risk and for this, the benefits outweighed any risk.

AndTakeYourHorse why on earth shouldn't it be in AIBU?

It sits quite well in AIBU, 8/10 for bunfight potential, 9/10 for emotive issue, 10/10 for two irreconcilable camps. Conspiracy theory, scientific argument and a parent's decision make a perfect AIBU mix. You still don't get to dictate what people post.

Y0uCann0tBeSer10us DD2 was 3 when she had mumps. DD1 had measles aged 5 and DS had measles at 2.

BTW, with DC1 I went from being vaccine-nervous to vaccinating without hesitation. This was thanks to a GP who took time to explain the studies, vaccine ingredients etc. to me without dismissing my concerns. It's perfectly legitimate to ask questions.

Mintpepper can you really not understand why we are angry. you are asking people to list the positives of you putting our newborn and chemo patient relatives at risk. it's a piss take.

On the off chance you aren't a journalist- please, please vaccinate your children. There are no good reasons to not. None. A vaccination program will only work if the cast majority do it. As someone with an interest in the history of medicine I thank my lucky stars we have vaccinations available to protect our children.

After all it is only 38 years ago smallpox was officially eradicated, something that would never have happened if people refused to vaccinate.

Ds is vaccinated against everything in the Swedish schedule and a few more besides (chicken pox and TBE which is rife here.)

No he hasn't got any of the diseases he was vaccinated against so far. If he does it's likely to be MUCH a less severe.

A very small percentage of children can't be vaccinated. Everyone else should be vaccinated because if not, we lose our herd immunity. And that's when the vulnerable die

This is why people get angry at anti vaxxers- it's not just your kids. If you do t vaccinate yours you rely on everyone else being sensible and vaccinating. If everyone didnt, your kids would get sick. So not only are your kids exposed to preventable diseases, they actively harm the community around them by being both potential vectors for disease and by lowering herd immunity. Hence people feel very strongly about it. Anti vaxxers are the ultimate moochers.

Not me but my friends husband had 4 DC including twin DS's with his previous wife and they refused to vaccinate any of them (absolutely against them)

Sadly their twins caught mumps after a local outbreak, both extremely ill, one was left with severe hearing loss (was thought to be profoundly deaf but over about 6y some hearing came back) and one suffered severe brain damage and passed away 2.5y later...of course this is rare but it DOES happen...both parents went on to have children with new partners and were adamant they were vaccinated, absolutely not a question

I also have a friend who decided not to vaccinate after much research and regrets it, her kids all caught whooping cough and it was of course horrid but the reason she regrets it so much is because of all the years she wasted worrying they'd get something worse and all the places they didn't go because of the worry...she thought that none of these illnesses were as bad as the possible side affects from the vaccines but as her dc grew older and she read more things, she regretted it...she had them all vaccines when the youngest was 8 I think

Still sifting...