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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:
Dancingfairy · 28/09/2017 12:34

I won't be giving it

CruiserHP · 28/09/2017 12:36

I am a healthcare assistant in a gp surgery. I have just done the immunisation course which includes the flu vaccine. It is not a live vaccine and therefore cannot give you flu. It does cause your body to respond, hence sometimes feeling ill afterwards. I was told on my course that if you do get ill after it it means your body is working how it should in regards to fighting things off. I am having it, as are both my children. 2/3 year olds and children up to year 4 can have it this year.

Ellendegeneres · 28/09/2017 12:41

My two are having it, ages 1 and 4. Baby will have the jab, older one mist spray this year. I'll get the jab myself. Asda pharmacy for a fiver. Who wouldn't pay such a small amount to protect against something so severe?

I've had flu once as an adult. I have never missed a jab since. I can't afford to get flu with two kids on my own!

teraculum29 · 28/09/2017 12:49

I will never have flu jab for myself, not sure if want my DD to have it.
Last time when I had flu jab. (about month later) I developed the worst ever flu in my life, been in bed for two weeks and to this day I'm still dealing with some of that flu complications. and that was 12years ago.

madamginger · 28/09/2017 12:54

My local CCG pay for all children from reception till year 8 to have the flu spray.
My dc will all have it, DH and Ds1 are asthmatic and they spend a lot of time with DH grandma who is 87 and lives in sheltered housing.
I work in a pharmacy and will probably get it but I’m terrified of needles Blush

Sahara123 · 28/09/2017 12:56

You can't blame the non live flu jab for getting flu a month later ! And as you discovered, proper flu is awful and you don't want it again, so go yourself a favour and get the jab !

Sahara123 · 28/09/2017 12:57

do

Believeitornot · 28/09/2017 13:00

I am going to get the flu jab as will my dcs.

I wish that schools were better at hygiene control though e.g. Encouraging children to wash their hands, to sneeze into the crook of their elbow if they don't have tissues, and most importantly opened classroom windows and have classrooms a proper clean.

I'm sure that would help. Instead we are at the mercy of them having an even more increased risk of catching something, bringing it home and spreading it.

Icanteat · 28/09/2017 13:05

The flu vaccination cannot give you the flu. By the law of averages some people will get the flu after having the vaccination. This is not because of the vaccination, simply an understandable, mathematical coincidence.

I'd recommend it. We are lucky to have it.

I'm in a group that allows me to get it on prescription each year and apart from a bit of tenderness (injection) I've never had any problems.

Dc has the spray and again, nothing to report.

sunseptember · 28/09/2017 13:09

I have just done the immunisation course which includes the flu vaccine. It is not a live vaccine and therefore cannot give you flu

The nasal spray is live

Icanteat · 28/09/2017 13:21

www.fluenztetra.co.uk/flufacts/resource/Pre-admin-checklist.pdf

I stand corrected the nasal is live (latter have never had any issues).
Is jab live, though?

I distinctly remember being told that it can't give you the flu.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 28/09/2017 13:29

The jab isn't live Icant. Whoever told you it can't give you flu is correct.

HeteronormativeHaybales · 28/09/2017 13:34

I get the flu jab because a) I have a tendency to chest issues, incl pneumonia twice in one year once, and b) I had a very bad time indeed with the swine flu in 2009 (the rest of the family escaped with a very light dose) and can't afford, in time, energy or money terms, to be knocked out to that extent again. I insist that dh gets it because he works with people in an institutional environment. But I don't make the dc get it - it's the one vaccination I give the older ones (12 and 10) a choice on (they usually say no Grin). They are, mercifully, fit and healthy and haven't ever succumbed yet, and IME the vaccination can take it out of you a bit.

GretchenFranklin · 28/09/2017 13:35

where can secondary school kids get the vax? I've looked online but boots, asda etc say 16+

drspouse · 28/09/2017 13:35

Adult vaccination:

Does not contain live flu
So it is BEYOND irrational to not have one because you had flu yourself (or your child had flu) after you/another adult had the jab in a previous year:

  1. You can't have got it from that jab
  2. You now know it's really, really horrible.

Children's vaccination:

Contains weakened live flu.
Cannot give your child flu.

Who gets children's flu vaccination (sniff):

Children over 2 only (up to Y4 in most areas).
All primary school aged children in other areas, and they will be extending upwards (which is why someone's 11yo isn't getting it)

At-risk younger children get the jab.

It also says (which I didn't know but makes sense) that under-5s are more likely to be admitted to hospital with flu.
And most 5-10 year olds have more contact with under-5s than adults who don't have children (at school, siblings) PLUS they are more snotty.

Fresh8008 · 28/09/2017 13:37

YABVU

Get them immunized asap.

drspouse · 28/09/2017 13:37

Gretchen if they have asthma etc. then I think at the GP. The NHS site says the spray is used for 2-17 year olds with long term health conditions.
I think if they don't have a long term health condition (or a sibling who does) then they are probably in the same category as an adult with no children and no long term conditions.

Skittlesss · 28/09/2017 13:37

We got a letter from school last week about it. I've said no as my lad wouldn't let them do it. He was pretty traumatised last time he had a nasal spray.

NinonDeLenclos · 28/09/2017 13:48

You can't blame the non live flu jab for getting flu a month later !

Surely the point is that it didn't immunise her. Perhaps it was a different strain...

JustMeeAgain · 28/09/2017 14:05

Dc 3 and 6 will be getting it. We have a 3 month old baby and is vulnerable. Those who just "don't want it" are putting my baby and other vulnerable people at risk and it is a level of selfishness I can't understand.

Headinthedrawer · 28/09/2017 14:08

My year 4 is having the nasal spray at school...she has asthma so GP will offer it too,I have it through work as does DH.I'm considering paying for my 10 year old to have it as has caught flu every year for the past 3 years.It's horrible-we spent one whole half term with her really Ill on the sofa not even well enough to watch TV.She had 2 weeks off school with it last year.The rest of us didn't get it so I'm all for the vaccine.

ittakes2 · 28/09/2017 14:56

I don't know a lot about it but I decided not to do it after I read about how live flu vaccines are developed in eggs and the scientists don't know all the DNA in eggs so you are getting some of this unknown genetic material put directly into your blood. BUT I read about it years ago when researching the mmr vaccine and things might have changed so worth doing your own research if you are interested in this potentially being the case.

sashh · 28/09/2017 16:13

I will never have flu jab for myself, not sure if want my DD to have it.
Last time when I had flu jab. (about month later) I developed the worst ever flu in my life, been in bed for two weeks and to this day I'm still dealing with some of that flu complications. and that was 12years ago.

Imagine how bad it could have been without the jab then.

drspouse · 28/09/2017 16:24

worth doing your own research
Have you got an immunology lab in your kitchen then?

RavingRoo · 28/09/2017 16:49

Am currently recovering from a strain my GP initially thought was Rheumatic fever it was so bad. No cough or cold, just 40 plus degree fevers, crippling joint pain, and chest pain. I’m otherwise healthy too, dread to think how a child would have faired.