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.

My husband was not vaccinated because his parents believed they knew better than millions of pounds worth of research into vaccines. They took a chance and he contracted whooping cough as a child and to this day suffers every winter. Herd immunity aside (in itself a bloody good reason to vaccinate), I couldn't bear the thought of my children suffering unnecessarily when we are fortunate enough to have the resources available in our country to prevent these life threatening diseases. Both of my children have/will have all of the vaccines available to them, and I'm extremely grateful they will.

I'm all for everyone making an informed decision, but honestly I am shocked that people still question the necessity of life saving vaccines

Don't be so ridiculous - there's plenty of research, such as the studies you suggest available to people who aren't immunologists

If OP had done that she wouldn't even question whether to vaccinate or not given the over-whelming evidence.

Wakefield broke every ethics law in the. Ok - the ones that were brought in after the nazi experiments on humans. He did unnecessary and painful tests on children for his own financial gain. He had a vested interest in single vaccines and stood to gain financially.

Let's repeat that again for anyone who. Relieves he's a plucky little battler against the system : he did painful tests (bowel biopsies ffs) on children for financial gain.

He should be in jail

I was born in the UK in 1980. My mum chose not to give me the MMR.

knowing this, when I was pregnant, I was tested to see if I'd already had any of the MMR diseases and was therefore immune to any of them.

According to tests, I'd obviously had Measles and Rubella, but not Mumps.

I was MIGHTY GLAD I was immune to Measles before I got pregnant!

I did vaccinate all my DC, however my oldest is 19 now, and he was vaccinated around the time of the alleged MMR/Autism link. Quite a few of his classmates were not vaccinated and one of his unvaccinated friends ended up in hospital with suspected measles. It was quite a frightening time for his friends family and the other unvaccinated families. His friend was eventually vaccinated as were his younger siblings.

I had a polio booster when I had glandular fever. The illness spiralled into ME, which went on for years. There is some link between ME and polio. So while I am not opposed to vaccinations, I would say that I would be cautious about getting vaccinated when your immune system is low. Absolutely unscientific but thats my view.

I can understand why parents don't want to vaccinate there's a lot of scaremongering + the autism risk. But having said that I still firmly believe many rely on mostly all other children being vaccinated meaning their children won't catch any life=threatening diseases anyway

My SIL goes on & on about having not vaccinated their children but didn't answer when I eventually asked her if say 90% of children at their school weren't vaccinated would you feel so sure of your decision? She changed the subject

Its a big decison and, each to their own.

"I want to hear both sides as well as do my own research before I make decision, simple as that"

How are you planning on doing your own research? Are you an immunologist?

Sweaty for you, it sounds like you've enough to deal with at the moment.

I am immunocompromised. I have never had measles. I rely on herd immunity so I don't die. My daughter relies on her immunity so that she doesn't lose me to measles.
Vaccination is not about personal choice.

"I want to hear both sides as well as do my own research before I make decision, simple as that

This pisses me off. What research can you do? This isn't research.

And there aren't two sides. There's the "be a decent parent and vaccinate your kid" or there's the "be a dick".

My Aunt didn't vaccinate my cousin against MMR. She regretted it when he was about 14 and measles were going around. He was then vaccinated.

And,that's an excellent post.

BertrandRussell To be fair you don't need to be clinically qualified to read medical journals. That said, I do fail to see a credible reason to refuse vaccination. Like a PP said, even if someone sans vaccination is 'healthy' this is as a result of herd immunity. Not their super-human antibodies.

To be fair you don't need to be clinically qualified to read medical journals

No but you do need the skills to be able to understand and evaluate them properly, which most people don't have.

I couldn't have the MMR as a baby and had all three illnesses. No question of DD not having them at all.

Only vaccination she hasn't had is the flu one. The odds of them getting close to the right strains or efficacy is just so low.

I regret not getting the chickenpox shot for DC1 as I put it off for a month and then DC caught it from nursery.

It is not a 'mild' illness for an 18 month old child. DC was really, really poorly and miserable for 2 weeks and I was overwhelmed with guilt knowing that I could have prevented his suffering and had postponed the shot for no reason apart from laziness making the appointment.

I refused his little friends coming over for a 'pox party' as I would never have forgiven myself if one of them would have developed complications after catching the pox from my DC.

Thankfully there were no real complications, aside from a few infected pox that required antibiotics. The scarring is permanent though, of course.

DCs are otherwise fully vaccinated.

Dsibling and I are too old to have been given the MMR. Sibling had all three illnesses and is deaf in one ear and hard of hearing in the other as a result of having measles.

Friend of mine had leukaemia and although thankfully now in remission, he had to spend weeks in hospital rather than at home with his wife for what could have been the last few months of his life (50/50 chance of survival) due to the risk of getting a VPD in his local area due in part, to the actions and influence of antivaxxers.

I wasn't vaccinated. I got whooping cough when I was about 9 and it was horrendous. I caught it from a boy on holiday and I was ill for the rest of the summer hols.
I wasn't immune to ruebella when I was tested in my first pregnancy but luckily did not contract it. Once I'd had DD I got vaccinated.
I'm not immune to mumps so I hope the herd immunity protects me. I've had measles as a child.
My kids get all the vaccs going.

BertrandRussell To be fair you don't need to be clinically qualified to read medical journals."

No. But as all medical journals-and, indeed, all medics, are united in supporting vaccination, "doing my own research" implies something different to just reading authoritative papers........

I vaccinated DD, although we are having MMR done privately in separate doses. She has never been ill other than conjunctivitis which was because a relative let her dog lick the babies face we have friends who haven't vaccinated and their children are constantly and I mean constantly ill. Not with anything you can vaccinate against but I reckon the shock to the immune system with the jabs will strengthen it to protect the baby from things other than what the vaccines are for iyswim. There's no other explanation for why they are ill imo as parents are healthy, the kids eat extremely healthily, all organic, get plenty of fresh air and exercise.

No but you do need the skills to be able to understand and evaluate them properly, which most people don't have.

I agree with this sentiment entirely and my initial comment didn't seek to present an argument in support of ignorance as the guidelines are accessible in a variety of formats.

As far as I'm concerned, if someone is hell bent on 'doing research' then they'll soon find that even in lieu of common sense, most (if not all) evidence-based peer-reviewed research is in favour of vaccination.
I think OP was just musing different opinions and because this is MN every sensible discussion about a controversial topic must be ridiculed and become hysterical. Read for instance any thread on BF/FF.

That's all I'll say on this matter for now. OP - I can't stress enough how important vaccination is. It really is. There is no pharma conspiracy, nor is there an autism bogeyman. To me this argument is a bit like 'Should I wear a seat belt when driving?' - just because your neighbour's cousin's primary school teacher's aunt once drove to Tesco not wearing one and survived to tell the tale doesn't mean seat belt safety is just for shits and giggles.

OP has gone. I'm assuming glowing in his or her own self righteousness about 'research'

oh dear maybe i was too hard on her. it's just soooooo frustrating!

Notmypenguin healthcare professionals are recommended to have a full set of up to date imms sure but it is not compulsory and the job is not dependent on their vaccination status.

My DD isn't vaccinated.
I don't regret it but it's not an easy decision and it's one I only took because of a family history of adverse reactions and her multiple and complicated allergies and health issues.

My opinion is that default setting should be vaccinate and you only opt out when you have to.

I wouldn't recommend talking about it on here though. People in real life who know my family are rational but on here you get a mixture of genuine concern alongside those just enjoying their bout of righteous indignation.

As a note I would suggest that anyone asking 'which is worse, autism or death' should have a think about just how low they are prepared to sink to make a point on the internet