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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
LuchiMangsho · 28/09/2017 10:45

DH also says if you are pregnant please please please get the jab. When there was the swine flu outbreak he had to deal with a several very ill people of whom a couple (I think) died and all were pregnant women. It was one of the saddest days of his medical career. If you are pregnant the jab is free so please get it.

Littlebelina · 28/09/2017 10:45

Thanks Hulla that fits. Hopefully we will hear from school soon then. Think they did in Dec last year which seem late

sunseptember · 28/09/2017 10:45

It's not a live virus and it cannot give you flu

Injection is not live but the spray is live

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 28/09/2017 10:49

I have a close relative who has worked for years in both adult and paediatric ICUs. The idea that if you are healthy you'll be fine is complete rubbish.

Every year otherwise healthy adults do catch flu and end up spending time seriously ill. It can take months to recover properly.

sunseptember · 28/09/2017 10:49

@ParsnipLeekAndLemonSoup

Private doctors surgeries like the ones who do travel jabs...google them, there is one called Dr Now which is nationwide I think?

I have been having my two done since little as it was never offered.

sunseptember · 28/09/2017 10:52

I refuse the nasal flu vaccine for my DS who has asthma, this is because on the two occasions he had it he was poorly 10 days later with asthma attacks. I do however take him to the gp and he has the jab, in fact he is having it tonight after school

Mine has virul wheeze and we are going for the spray.

The nurse got very uptight when I was asking how quickly we could get the spray because if its going to be weeks, I said I can get her privately done by injection. She got very uppity saying the guidelines are for the spray?

Its a worrying minefield. I just want her to be protected as much as possible.

I have even read it wears off after a certain time so perhaps we can even jab again in january?

Clovertoast · 28/09/2017 10:52

Iwork in the NHS and get it every year. Never had any side effects.
Ive had flu though in the past and WOW I was ill.
Its NOT like a heavy cold and youve had REAL flu you can see how it can kill.
My daughter has an autoimmune disease and flu could kill her.
It terrifies me when flu season comes around and there are tons of unvaccinated children milling around.

Anatidae · 28/09/2017 11:01

Oh another complication of flu in a healthy young person - endocarditis. I had a colleague a few years back (young fit healthy guy in late twenties) who ended up in critical care for a bit with it - very ill, took a long time to recover

Flump9 · 28/09/2017 11:07

I believe that this years flu vaccine will not protect against the Australian flu. It's not one of the strains covered by the vaccine.

Original poster
MerryMarigold · 28/09/2017 11:09

Thanks all. Will do it this year then and make appointment with asthma nurse regarding ds1 who is asthmatic. I guess they should offer it to him - though whether jab or nasal spray will be interesting. If the nasal spray is live it makes sense that some kids get sick.

OP posts:
Original poster
MerryMarigold · 28/09/2017 11:10

Oh Flump, that was the main reason I was going to do it. Hmmmmm

OP posts:
drspouse · 28/09/2017 11:11

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.

Older children are less likely to pass it on to the elderly and vulnerable because they aren't germ shedding snot machines like younger children.

I think they are, however, rolling it out to older children (my DS had it at preschool age when they weren't offering it to otherwise healthy primary school children, but now they are offering it to most primary school children, working upwards).

drspouse · 28/09/2017 11:16

To the PP whose daughter was seriously ill and you are not going to get it - I'm very confused by this - your daughter couldn't have caught it from you getting the vaccine - so, as she's had flu before and you've seen how serious it is, you are now going to NOT give her the vaccine??!

Confused
CiderwithBuda · 28/09/2017 11:21

No it doesn't protect against the Australian strain. But any protection is better than none. If people have the flu jab that is being offered and don't get 'normal' flu their immune system won't be weakened if they then come in contact with a mutated version such as the Australian one.

And if less people are ill with the 'normal' flu then there is less of it around generally and there is less pressure on the NHS.

And think about Vit D supplements in addition. You can get in a mouth spray so easy to do.

DemonBaby · 28/09/2017 11:21

None of the private GPs seem to offer it for under 2s either, sadly.

sunseptember · 28/09/2017 11:42

demon are you sure - unless its a new policy I have been having younger dd done for years!

the injection not the spray.

DemonBaby · 28/09/2017 11:48

really! I just cannot find it anywhere on google!!

Anatidae · 28/09/2017 11:55

I've had ds done under 2yo (although we are in Abroad.)

weegiemum · 28/09/2017 12:01

Is there anyone here who has actually had proper flu who would dream of refusing it?

Stignia - me! I have a neurological illness which can be triggered by vaccinations, the flu vaccine seems to be a particularly common one to trigger.

Dh gets the jag as 1) he's asthmatic and 2) he's a gp who doesn't want to catch it from patients! Our 3 dc get it privately, partly to protect me as actual flu can also trigger a relapse!

rightnowimpissed · 28/09/2017 12:05

We don’t I don’t like it and I refuse to intentionally give my children a vaccine with no proof that they need it so

Rikalaily · 28/09/2017 12:07

Is there anyone here who has actually had proper flu who would dream of refusing it?

The only year I got proper flu, was the year I got the flu jab! Never had it since and haven't caught flu again.

Dd3 was offered the nasal spray vaccination last year (y2) and this year (y3) I've declined both times as she wouldn't have it without being pinned down (possible ASD). The last time she had it was with her preschool boosters.

expatinscotland · 28/09/2017 12:13

'I hope we never get a 1919-type outbreak again but, if we do, tens of thousands - possibly hundreds of thousands - of people in the UK will die. Protect yourselves and your kids.'

That pandemic, like most, also had a number of vectors that allowed it to kill so many (my grandmother's first husband, age 21 and her first child, her daughter, age 2 among them). For some reason, many of the afflicted developed rapid onset pneumonia, which, although a known complication of influenza, was an anomaly. Secondly, a number of people were not very well-nourished/malnourished (this was also a factor in the initial European outbreak of Black Plague, as grain harvest had been poor/failed in the immediate years before, resulting in fairly widespread poor nutrition). Slum/overcrowded conditions in many areas also played a part.

'Is there anyone here who has actually had proper flu who would dream of refusing it?'

I've had it properly but have to have the vaccine privately. It's possible people in this position cannot afford it. Right now I'm having to find a place that will privately vaccinate DD2 for it and not cost a bomb. She's 11 and in secondary school. She's currently being monitored for low weight and I don't want her catching influenza . I had to make a case for it at the GP for DS and he's eligible for one as he's in primary school (he cannot use the nasal vaccine).

NinonDeLenclos · 28/09/2017 12:16

Is there anyone here who has actually had proper flu who would dream of refusing it?

Yep, I've had proper influenza it was fine.

Anatidae

There are many theories about why 1918 strain was particularly deadly to young adults and to provide one as the only explanation is bad science.

For example, US Professor Worobey's research on the matter found that a human flu H1 virus that had been around since 1900 accrued genetic material from a bird flu virus around 1918 and this was the lethal strain.

His theory is that those who were children between 1880-1900 were exposed to a flu strain called H3N8 in childhood to which they would have built up some immunity. This had very different surface proteins to the 1918 H1N1 strain & against which their immune systems would have been relatively ineffective.

However, those born before or after these dates would have been exposed to flu viruses in childhood more like the 1918 strain, so their immune systems would have been better placed to fight it.

But theories, yours included, is all they are.

glitterlips1 · 28/09/2017 12:21

My children aren't having the flu vaccine this year. Both are very well children but when they had the vaccine last year both were very unwell for weeks. Their school is doing the vaccines on a Friday so I will keep them off school on the day of the vaccine to avoid the shedding process.

expatinscotland · 28/09/2017 12:21

'Dd3 was offered the nasal spray vaccination last year (y2) and this year (y3) I've declined both times as she wouldn't have it without being pinned down (possible ASD). '

DS definitely won't have a nasal vaccine again without being held down (he does have ASD). Speak to your GP surgery about your DD.