To not vaccinate my child with BCG?

[SandyBabyToes]

I say this because SIL lives 5 minutes down the road and her area are completely exempt from it

I asked one of my local health professionals why we were in the catchment area for it and he said it was to do with a lot of immigration control, hence the vaccine being offered.

But, we don't go to that side of our town (it's a big town), and we don't mix in that area (it's not a short way away).

And even if we did and that slight chance would be the reason for it, why doesn't SIL's area get offered it when she's literally in spitting distance.

Taking all this into account, I'm not really comfortable with my DC having it. It's not a nice vaccine to have and often leaves a scar

I believe the vaccine is very safe and has been around for years, therefore why not protect your children from TB? Just because you don't think you're at risk at the moment, maybe your children will travel or work in areas with a higher incidence? They'll no doubt need to pay for it then

But it doesn't protect them at that point anyway?

They won't need to have it later either. WHO no longer recommends BCG vaccine beyond early childhood

If I was your SIL I would want to know why it wasn’t available in my postcode.

It's because that postcode is closed as low risk because they have a lower proportion of immigrants from particular areas living there.

I don’t understand your logic at all because your SIL children won’t be getting it and should be in your opinion (and mine as well btw- everyone should be offered it) you don’t want your children to have it? Is that right?

Also the scar is tiny. Mine has faded now I’m in my 30s and yes the injection hurt but as someone who’s grandfather was orphaned by TB as a baby I think the pain of actually the disease is much worse than that.

I didn’t get the BCg as a baby. Most of my friends did.
We lived in a neighbouring town at the time.
I did get skin test and then BCG in high school.
I don’t have a scar from it but I think this might be unusual?

I don’t think my 2 have had it at all. What age do they get it at now?
I though it was only offered to at risk communities / families?

If it was offered though they would probably have had it

My previous neighbour's daughter caught TB from a patient (she was a nurse) this patient had recently been in Pakistan and had fallen ill within a few weeks of his return. There was a huge impact for all those who had been in contact with him,
My neighbour's daughter was ill for a long time and it weakened her whole body, she was affected by it for many years.

I think there is a problem nowadays that this generation of Mothers have never come across someone who has been disabled by having a bad dose of measles, polio, whooping cough etc etc.
I am in my 60's and went to school with a lad whose mother had died from TB.
I had measles as a child it was truly horrible and I remember the fever and the hallucinations well!
Why are people turning down these life saving jabs?????
A small scar? it beggars belief!
Sorry rant over

but why is someone so close to me not offered it too?

The company that produces the vaccine has not been producing much and therefore there has been a worldwide shortage (getting better now though) of the BCG vaccine.

Including that and the fact that the NHS has to do a cost vs impact analysis, they have to do it borough by borough where the rates of TB have been recorded as being too high.

So surely you can see that even though you are a few roads away from your SiL, the difference in boroughs or health care trusts has caused this to be the case due to the worldwide shortage of the vaccine (so they have to target the areas that need it most first) and therefore it is churlish to use the fact your SiL is not being offered it, as an excuse to not get it for your child?

I don't really see what your AIBU is, OP. The vaccine is offered in the area in which you live for a reason. Why are you using the fact that a child who falls under another area isn't eligible as am excuse to not have your child vaccinated? If the vaccine is available to your child and will prevent them from contracting something as awful as TB, why would you NOT have them vaccinated? I really don't understand this thread at all.

My DD1 was given the BCG vaccine as a baby at her 6 week check up. That was because of where we lived at the time. No scar and no problems. That was 23 years ago now.

The other two were not offered it as we had moved to a different area by the time they were born. With hindsight perhaps I should have asked more questions for them.

Take it if it is being offered. Why wouldn't you, unless you have a sound medical reason why your child should not have the vaccine.

I know you don't want to damage your DC's pweshus skin but I just Googled pictures of children with TB. I'd take a teeny scar over that any day.

I should add that when I was at primary school in the seventies my friend's father caught TB. He did survive, but was extremely ill for many months, and in hospital for much of that time. It weakened him for some time afterwards too.

TB can easily be a killer. The vaccine is very unlikely to be harmful.

I agree that the postcode lottery is not ideal. In an ideal world the NHS would have plentiful funds and there would never be any shortages of life saving drugs and vaccines. However, it is what it is and the world is far from perfect.

Aw no your children will get a scar, God forbid. They'll look lovely in the coffin though.

Seriously I don't get you anti vaccers. Who cares if someone else isn't offered it? If you are take it. If you aren't, question why. A young child may not die from tb alone, but if they then contract meningitis from it, they can die very painfully, or lose limbs. Explain to your child that they lost a limb because mummy didn't want them to have a scar from a jab.

I would have zero sympathy for your guilt if you don't get it done and they get sick. I feel very sorry for your kids. Think about it carefully. People can tell you 'oh the risk is low, they wouldn't die anyway', an 18 year old girl died from flu complications recently because it led to pneumonia. She was 18, the kind of age you don't expect anyone to die at for an illness. But it still HAPPENED. And will happen again.

Your choice. If you can live with the guilt of seeing your kids die, don't bother. Being harsh but I don't care, anti vaccers are morons to me.

Why does it matter that your SIL children won't have it? Seriously. Just get your kid vaccinated.

It's a postcode thing. Where I live we don't have it offered routinely but my DPs family come from Zimbabwe so they offered it so I took it.

They stopped offering it routinely as the amount of cases dropped, however because of this and the migrant population it's only going to rise again.

My mum had TB when she was young and has scared lungs now. Horrible. Vaccinate that child.

OP your thought process that you don't go that side of town is naive and shocking.

BTW the vaccine was fine, my DS had his at 3 weeks old. He screamed for about a second, then was completely fine and no side effects at all besides the little mark on his arm, which you don't even see.

We lived in London when DC1 was at the age for the BCG. Our borough didn't offer it but he was going swimming a couple of miles up the road in a borough that did and all the other babies at the class had been offered it. I found the fact we lived so close to a London borough that did deem it necessary concerning so I paid for DC1 to have it done privately.

We have since moved to Hertfordshire, where the risk is incredibly low, so I didn't bother getting DC2 done (and it's not offered on the NHS here).

It always baffles me why so many people in the UK treat proven vaccines with such suspicion. We are so lucky to have access to them.

If I was your SIL I'd be doing an AIBU about why her kids weren't offered the BCG. I take all vaccinations offered with a huge sense of gratitude. They reduce the risk of me or my child coming down with the very unpleasant illness in question.

Have your kids vaccinated and be grateful you are in the lucky postcode!

I turned it down for mine.

It's hard to catch TB.

I'm confident they're not at risk.

The hospital I had both of my DDs in gave babies the BCG on the day they were discharged from the maternity ward. Both of mine have tiny scars now but it's a very small sacrifice to have them protected from TB!

My son had it done last Friday and he was fine,no crying.
We live in a high risk area of East London, next door postcode don't offer it, I would be getting it done privately if I lived 5 minutes down the road.

We all had bcg at high school. Very few had scars (mainly cos they messed with the site or had a reaction). Mine is a tiny white dot on my arm. My smallpox one is bigger. We all had them so are used to seeing it on arms of people of a certain age. At one point tb levels were very low. They stopped doing it as standard, immigration increased and now it is back. To my mind, this needs reintroducing across the board.
Tb is evil. I would be more focussed on my child than one down the road and get it done.

Sorry, to clarify I mean hard to catch unless you are in very close quarters to someone with it.

I'd accept it. I had it as a teen as most did. My DDs weren't offered it and I wish they were.

I'm not an anti vaccinators, he's had everything else offered. I'm just not 100% about this BCG one yet.

Not only am I curious as to why, if it's so important, why my SIL doesn't get offered since I can physically see her house from mine. Our children will attend the same schools; visit the same supermarket. Visit the same leisure centres etc. Surely her children are just as at risk? Shouldn't she be fighting to get the BCG done then, if it's just that she happens to live a few minutes away from me?

I have Lupus syndrome and it's not something I could have. I worry DC could have this too although not likely etc so don't want something unless it's absolutely necessary

It's a richer, predominantly white area in which we live. I don't get the immigration part because that's miles away. We don't mix there, it's miles away from me and SIL So with that in mind, isn't it just by chance I'm being offered and not her? Because technically, we're both not at higher risk?

Not only am I curious as to why, if it's so important, why my SIL doesn't get offered since I can physically see her house from mine. Our children will attend the same schools; visit the same supermarket. Visit the same leisure centres etc. Surely her children are just as at risk? Shouldn't she be fighting to get the BCG done then, if it's just that she happens to live a few minutes away from me?

Yes, she should, and if I were her I'd see if I could get it privately.

Just have it done for Pete's sake, what do you think is going to happen? What are you worried about?