UK lost measles free status

[Stressedout10]

So due to all the anti Vaxers the WHO have stripped us of our measles free status.
What next ?

This is dreadful news!

Measles kills and disables - IT'S NOT JUST A FEW SPOTS!!!

All of those vulnerable people, mostly children who can't be immunised are now at huge risk.

ANTI-VAXXERS - YOU ARE SELFISH BASTARDS! YOUR KIDS ARE ONLY SAFE BECAUSE WE VACCINATE OURS!

When Australia introduced the very strict (relative to global norms) legislation suite to raise the immunisation rate, it seemed like it would be a huge deal. Big backlashes were expected, marching in the streets.

Actually it was pretty tame. Turns out most uneducated dills will still prioritise getting childcare or schooling for their kids, over their ‘concerns’ with the full vaccination schedule. They basically all either piped down (embarrassed that they capitulated?) or moved to anti-vax enclaves. So we can more easily avoid them. Even those folks sometimes found that they couldn’t actually get govt funding for their ‘alternative’ schools or holiday programs or daycare. So they returned to mainstream. Basically unless you can get your kids enrolled somewhere, you can’t work. Pretty simple maths.

Maybe my take on this is simplistic (I’m a fervent vaxxer), but it all seems very doable. Australia is up to about 95% adherence to the vax schedule. Quite high on the optional ones too (flu, etc). And we’re still climbing, according to the govt reports I read.

You guys should really consider it. I think we’re all a bit blind to how many other medical decisions govts make on our behalf, enmass. This is just one more. Forgotten about after a few months.

Part of the cause may be immigrants coming into the UK who aren't vaccinated. It would be interesting to know where the outbreaks are, if they are in communities with large immigrant populations then they could target them with offers of vaccinations.

@whatnonotyouagain
I'm so sorry about your cousin.
It is an unfortunate fact that these illnesses are much worse in adulthood than childhood as such the risk of death and severe long term side effects are proportionally increased.
There is an entire generation at risk how long until they start catching and dyeing from them?
How many children need to be born with birth defects from rubella (I grew up with children like this) before people wake up to what they are doing

During the plague if it was even suspected someone in your home had the disease the authorities would send someone round to lock the house up for 40 days, with you all inside...

These people need proper consequences for choosing not to imm their kids. I bet half of them would change their minds at the first hurdle.

@oldbuthappygothgirl

There was a short period, my paediatrician delayed dd2's mmr by 9 months because he was worried - dd1 was diagnosed with autism at 2 3/4 it was shortly after it broke, yes drs were saying it wasn't true but he was being cautious. He also managed to get mercury free vaccines (now standard but wasn't then) as a precaution. We trusted him to weigh up the pros and cons, he said he wanted her to reach a certain weight before he gave it (she was very light!)

I totally agree with those stating that in order to access state education that a child’s vaccine programme should be totally up to date.

For those who are speaking about being entitled to a state education without caveats, have you never heard what phrase “with rights come responsibilities”?
What about other children being ENTITLED to not being out at risk of a preventable potentially fatal illness just for going to school?

My eldest was born summer 1997, and when that dodgy research came out, it was a bloody scary time. I did have my child vaccinated, but chose to wait till she was about 6 months older than the advised time.

I think anti-vaxxers switching to homeschooling sounds good. As much as they annoy the fuck out of me and I wish they would all stop being so stupid, I don't think it's right to actually force vaccinations on people who truly believe that they are harmful. I think if they shut themselves off from society a bit more by doing things like homeschooling then that's at least a more workable compromise. Obviously it's still not ideal but better than nothing.

@herculepoirot2 errr where do I start? You might as well bring up blood letting this is so completely irrelevant.

unvaccinated tourists and immigrants will still bring measles to the country.

All the more reason to have a vaccinated population then.

In all of these discussions no one ever mentions the blame and responsibility that should lie with the medical journal “The Lancet”. They published Wakefield’s work without rigorous enough checks on the research. It was so flawed but they didn’t check?! They are supposedly a very respected journal and it’s no wonder the public were convinced it was true, after all if The Lancet took it seriously?
I blame Wakefield but I also very much blame the bloody Lancet.

And yes I agree with no entry to nursery or school without vaccinations unless the child has a valid medical exemption.

For those who are speaking about being entitled to a state education without caveats, have you never heard what phrase “with rights come responsibilities”?

I have also heard the phrase ‘All dogs go to heaven’. The existence of an aphorism does not mean what it says is true. I have no responsibility to accept medical treatment for my child that I think will harm her. I have the right to refuse it. She has the right to a state education.

Because I don’t believe the MMR is harmful, my child has had it. How many people who are frothing at the mouth here, would honestly let someone inject their child with chemicals if they honestly believed it would result in harm?

You might as well bring up blood letting this is so completely irrelevant.

What is?

I also don’t understand why unvaccinated child puts another child at risk.

Herd immunity.

There will always be some people who can’t have the vaccines for medical reasons or because of treatment their vaccinated status becomes compromised. These are also often amongst the most vulnerable members of society.

The more people who could, and should, be vaccinated and aren’t means that - as we are facing now - these diseases which with a high level of vaccination uptake shouldn’t be a risk to anyone are becoming more and more of an issue. This does increases the risk even to those who are vaccinated as no vaccine (or medical treatment!) is ever going to be 100% in the cover it can provide. If everyone is vaccinated then the risk from this is minute. The less of the general population who are vaccinated then the more that risk will increase (although obviously still a much lesser risk than not being vaccinated(

Yabbers that exact fact of things being settled out of court does not help statistics and give an honest view

You also can’t categoricaly say it’s not related to MMR.

The autism link was disproven.
I don’t know why people still going on about it as any parent with a child on the spectrum just gets hurt by those comments.

There are cases of severe reactions that put people off. Not autism related

Just in case people reading this thread don't know - if you have a child under 3y4m who has only had one MMR, you can get the second dose early via your GP to increase effectiveness against measles in the outbreaks.
And it's never too late to catch up on your MMR if you were unvaccinated.

Sirzy- if that was quoting me then it’s out of context - i don’t understand why parents of vaccinated children feel like unvaccinated children are a threat to theirs

How many people who are frothing at the mouth here, would honestly let someone inject their child with chemicals if they honestly believed it would result in harm?

I'm sorry but yet again - some people honestly believe their children will burn in hell if they have a lifesaving blood transfusion. What people believe is utterly irrelevant. Some people believe things that are fucking stupid.

@BigFatLiar this is indeed the case. The health authority already makes targeted efforts to populations at risk from immigrantion and travel with many diseases. For instance, my children were both offered non-routine vaccines at birth because we have family that live and regularly visit from developing countries who might pass on TB and whathave you.

The wider picture is that some parents do not trust the medical profession to be transparent, honest and act quickly if there seems to be an issue. Thalidomide, blood transfusion scandal, maternity hospital failings leading to baby and mother deaths etc.
Before anyone jumps on me, I know they are separate to vaccinations. I am vaccinated (retrospectively for some, admittedly due to severe needle phobia as a teen), my child is vaccinated. But the atmosphere of mistrust does not help and I think it would be more effective to address this than a blanket ban on unvaccinated children (and taking them into care? Catch yourself on ffs).
I’ve known of a well reported and common side effect to a medication I received in hospital. I was blatantly lied to about that side effect. That sort of thing does not encourage a trust in hcps. Let’s try and get the trust back to get vaccination rates back up.

I'm sorry but yet again - some people honestly believe their children will burn in hell if they have a lifesaving blood transfusion. What people believe is utterly irrelevant. Some people believe things that are fucking stupid.

Yes. And if it can be proven in court that their stupidity represents a current threat to their child’s health because they are refusing treatment for a serious health problem, I support the removal of their parental responsibility. I don’t support legislation making every preventative treatment deemed desirable by the Government mandatory.

It isn't just the anti vaxxers. In our area, the vast majority of the newer immigrant population, we've seen an enormous rise of those from Roma backgrounds in the last 12 months, are not vaccinated. My children's primary school has had an outbreak amongst the Roma children there, which spread to some of the other children from Eastern Europe. I think only one native British child caught it, as they had almost all been vaccinated against it. Speaking to a GP recently, he said that those populations, largely haven't had any vaccinations at all and that at his surgery they are seeing a huge rise in illnesses that are very rare to the natives. I don't mean any of this to be racist at all, just purely factual.

woodland I explained why in my post.

Unvaccinated children pose a threat even if someone is vaccinated. It may only be a small threat but the risk is still there and it will increase the less people who are vaccinated as those unvaccinated are more likely to come into contact with the illness.

Your children must be quite old Nails because single mumps vaccines haven't been for over 10 years

Yes, they are. Not children any more!

Nailsneedoing - my DS had the single jabs and I just took a letter from the clinic to my Doctors. His records show he has been vaccinated.

I did the same, even took proof that they were immune as well, the GP wouldn't accept it and I ended up being asked about it at every appointment we had for years.

@herculepoirot2 thalidomide. An untested medicine (which was developed in the middle of the last century) prescribed by doctors (not a part of government policy) to treat pregnancy symptoms is in no way analogous to a state vaccination policy. You might as well bring up other completely unrelated failures in medical science.