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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not give my kids the flu jab?

135 replies

MerryMarigold · 28/09/2017 09:18

Every year this comes round and every year I don't do it, because I don't feel I know enough about it, so I think better to leave it. This year I have a few days left to decide. Anecdotally some kids seem to get quite sick after it (and it's just before half term - coincidence?!). And why do they need it every year if it gives immunity? Plus how many people actually get real flu? I know it's not pleasant, but is it worse than getting a mild version of flu every year after the jab?

So, if you are doing it/ not doing it and know something 'proper' about it, please let me know.

OP posts:

SloeSloeQuickQuickGin · 28/09/2017 09:21

Flu mutates. It is a differnt strai every year.

Its up to you. I didnt know it was rolled out to children. I thought it was for people with serious conditions and public secor workers!

I had it 2 days ago and I've not even got an achy shoulder this time. DH had it on Sunday and was under the weather on Tuesday (may or may not be related)

AuntLydia · 28/09/2017 09:23

Different strains of flu every year is why they need a jab yearly. It's also to protect more vulnerable members of the community - so you may feel your chances of getting it are low due to a good immune system but you could still be spreading those germs.

My main reservation with it is that it doesn't seem particularly effective... They have to guess which strain to immunise against. I'm sure it's a very educated guess but some years it's not been very effective at all.

grannytomine · 28/09/2017 09:24

Your children might be at school with children with a compromised immune system who can't have the jab but flu might kill them. I think it is the responsible thing to do.

QueenAmongstMen · 28/09/2017 09:24

A Facebook friend of mine who works in a nursery told me that last Friday one of the children appeared perfectly well, he got unwell on Saturday with flu symptoms and arrested on the Sunday. He had his life support turned off on Monday and apparently he had the Flu.

I see some very sick children st work with nasty viruses and strains of the Flu and it can make them incredibly sick.

I'm definitely getting my 3 year old vaccinated, especially as he goes to pre-school which I'm sure is a breeding ground for respiratory viruses.

arethereanyleftatall · 28/09/2017 09:25

My dc have it. There is a small benefit to them (they have less chance of getting flu) but a larger benefit to society. It's the nice thing to do and doesn't harm them.

RB68 · 28/09/2017 09:25

It gives immunity from specific strains of Flu and they determine this each year by what has been prevalent in other areas of the world (and so transferred by travel to this), hence often different flus each yr hence annual jabs. Kids get sick all the time especially after the first term back after holidays away from bugs etc. So the likely link flu jab to coughs and colds is low given other factors.

By not giving them the jab you are potentially turning them into supercarriers - exposing vulnerable people, sick (people with or recovering from cancer, diabetic, COPD etc), elderly, young, pregnant etc to life threatening disease. I know flu is seen as common but it is life threatening to many many people.

I think you need to be speaking to your GP rather than public forum. I have no patience with people who without good cause reject vaccination against something that can make such a huge difference to those vulnerable.

FaFoutis · 28/09/2017 09:25

I don't let my children have it for the same reason - I don't know much about it. I assume it is for herd immunity rather than specifically to protect the child, as you say flu not a very serious thing for most healthy children.

RiversrunWoodville · 28/09/2017 09:25

They always told me it wasn't a "live" virus but the year I was pregnant with twins I lost the first twin days after the flu jab (and feeling ill) although it had been a complicated pregnancy. Then dd1 had it and 2 days later came out of school almost catatonic, unable to speak (at first I thought she was traumatised!) but had a temperature over 104 and ended up in hospital really ill. We have never had it done since

Spikeyball · 28/09/2017 09:26

Ds is booked in for his. He had flu before the kids vaccine started and was ill for weeks ( couldn't move and had to have fluids syringed into his mouth for 5 days) I'm having it because I'm a carer.

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 28/09/2017 09:26

I don't have the time or expertise to research it so I go with the NHS advice. I work on the basis that they don't spend money for the sake of it. Isn't it a nasal spray rather than a jab?

PinkHeart5913 · 28/09/2017 09:26

Yes Proper flu is really horrible and I was an adult when I got it and it would be extra horrible for a small child, so based on that my dc will be having it as will I.

MrsJayy · 28/09/2017 09:26

Isn't it a nasal thing for children? anyway you don't have to give it to them I get it because im immunesupresed (is that a word) my eldest gets it because she is asmathic but if your kids are fit and healthy then it really is your decision.

Anatidae · 28/09/2017 09:27

It's needed every year because flu mutates constantly. It undergoes two processes - antigenic shift and antigenic drift. Drift is a slower process that results in minor changes (which can still be dangerous.) shift is a more abrupt and bigger change, usual from recombination with. It uses circulating in wildfowl/pigs, and can cause dramatically new viruses that humanity has no immunity to.
Every year scientists need to look at the strains they think will be an issue in the coming year and make all in which to include. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they don't, and sometimes a new and virulent strain springs up after they've picked.

So it's a different set of strains every year. Which is why you need a jab every year.

Flu can be lethal for anyone in various vulnerable categories (it's particularly good at killing pregnant women) and each years flu season is different to the last. You can still get flu after a jab. It it's likely to be milder.

It's not a live virus and it cannot give you flu. Most illness after it are the fact that flu jab season corresponds to 'general germ' season when schools and daycare are full of snotty sickly kids.

There's no compulsion for you to have it. No one is forcing you or your kids, it's up to you.

I have had real flu twice and both times it's developed into pneumonia. That plus the fact I'm a scientist with a pretty good grasp on just how nasty influenza can be makes me get it, and get my offspring it, every year.

I've given up with arguing with antibacterial types. I'm hoping natural selection makes the point more clearly.

It's up to you.

RB68 · 28/09/2017 09:27

I think it is Children under 5 who are offered the jab as well as the vulnerable/key workers such as healthcare etc

EdmundCleverClogs · 28/09/2017 09:28

I'm getting my two year old done. I've had flu, I've also (separately) had pleurisy and pneumonia. How ill they can make you is indescribable, the effects last months, perhaps years or lead on to other chronic conditions. Not to talk about the risk of death. I can't stand the idea of heard mentality either, if you can get these things done, you should and hopefully we can protect those few who genuinely cannot be vaccinated.

You need it every year because no two strains are the same, I thought everyone knew that. One vaccine isn't a 'cure for life', thankfully we have scientists keeping on top of these awful illnesses. Frankly, if it's a choice between feeling a bit grotty for a couple of days after an injection, or gamble on getting the flu, I'd take the former any day. I'd certainly not risk my child getting the flu because it doesn't seem that prevalent.

ElizabethShaw · 28/09/2017 09:29

Mine have had the nasal spray for the last few years and have never had a reaction or got flu.

Daffydil · 28/09/2017 09:29

This years flu season in Australia has been awful. Otherwise healthy children have died.

And school children are a massive potential pool of infection, and spread the virus out to their elderly grandparents, baby siblings, pregnant mothers etc. If we can stop flu spreading throughout the school community we can protect the wider community.

Yes they have to guess the strain each year, and some years they are more successful than others. But even some protection is better than nothing.

Anatidae · 28/09/2017 09:29

flu not a very serious thing for most healthy children.

Incorrect. Actual flu (not the heavy cold people who havent had it tend to think it is) is an absolute fucker. It is quite capable of killing healthy people.

The 1918 epidemic predominantly killed the young and healthy - we now think this was actually because they had strong immune systems, and the resulting cytokines storm was a contributing factor in many deaths.

SpuriouserAndSpuriouser · 28/09/2017 09:29

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vaccinations/Pages/child-flu-vaccine.aspx info about the flu vaccine for children and the reasons why it's important

Anatidae · 28/09/2017 09:30

Antibacterial? Antivaxxer :)

CaptWentworth · 28/09/2017 09:31

True flu is not unpleasant, it's horrific and potentially lethal for a lot of people. Vaccination is not just about your child. By vaccinating, you are also protecting those who cannot have the vaccine. I have the vaccine every year, including while I was pregnant, with no problems whatsoever.

expatinscotland · 28/09/2017 09:33

Children can have the jab for a lot of reasons. On DS's form there was even a religious reason. DS is 8 and the nasal vaccine last year gave him a lot of problems. He has ASD and kept getting bunged up for about 3 weeks. He'd wake up in panic attack as he couldn't breathe through his nose and this ramped up his anxiety. Caused sleep problems for months and this year he refused. So he's having hte jab at the GP surgery.

MrsJayy · 28/09/2017 09:33

I am mid 40s, i think i have had proper flu twice where i was flat out for a week my dc have never had it

expatinscotland · 28/09/2017 09:37

I've had proper flu 3 times (I had swine flu in the original outbreak but it wasn't so bad so I don't count it). It is awful. Am buying the jab privately for me, DH and DD2.

Original poster

MerryMarigold · 28/09/2017 09:38

It's not just children under 5. Mine are both 8, 9 by the flu 'spray' (that doesn't sound right). I am not worried if it is a jab or a spray really, just what's in it, and what effect it has.

My eldest doesn't seem to have been offered it this year at secondary (he's 11) unless it is coming later, so I guess the whole 'responsible to society' thing doesn't really work on that score. I still don't understand why it is offered to children apart from if it is solely for their benefit.

OP posts:

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