To not let dd have flu nasal spray this year?

[blueraindrop]

Firstly I'm very pro vaccine dd 6 has had everything offered to her so far.
But every year without fail she succumbs to illness straight after the flu nasal spray.
One year was a whole week off school and this year both me and dh have new jobs and we just don't have time to take the time off for effectively a planned bout of illness!
We live pretty boring lives rurally, other than school we don't really go many places so I'm not sure it's really worth it. Not to mention poor dd being ill every year.

She's not high risk other than being a dc so I really don't see how I can justify it. I don't actually no anyone personally who has had the flu. I know it's awful etc but just not sure.
Feel free to highlight my ignorance though!

Last year, hours after having the flu nasal vaccine (age 6) my DS became suddenly very ill, temperature, crying, very distressed. It was my nephew's 18th and we were at a big family party celebrating. I know he was ill as he is normally so tough, never complains/cries and would party all night if he could! We ended up leaving very early with him. The following morning he was completely back to normal.
Having said that, he's getting it again this year. Probably better to suffer for one night rather than for weeks if he got flu

Last year she had a fever, symptoms like a really bad cold, couldn't get out of bed, not her normal self at all, I completely understand you can't get the flu from it so I'm not suggesting she had the flu but she definitely has been ill on the dot after the spray and has 100% attendance for rest of the year so does seem a bit strange but I suppose it could be a coincidence.

Looking into the flu injection and I think I'd prefer her to get that. I'd be happy to pay. Does anyone know where I can get it. All the pharmacies appear to do 16+ only.

I don't actually no anyone personally who has had the flu

Lucky you. The real flu is a bonedeep exhaustion. I got it one year as a child. I couldn't eat for nearly a week, and felt so terrible that I couldn't get up on Christmas day. My presents were brought to me, and I just looked at them. I started ripping the paper off one, but it was too exhausting to continue.

It's my personal opinion that if you are truly certain that your daughter's illness was from the attenuated nasal vaccine, and not a cold that went round the class at the same time, then you should ask yourself how ill she might get if she got a live fully-functioning strain of flu.

@JamieVardysHavingAParty yes I am lucky I think because I live in the middle of nowhere nothing comes my way! And I have definitely considered that hence this post. I do want to make sure I either sign the form to say she can have it or I don't but need to justify the don't. They have set the date for it so I believe it's definitely going ahead despite shortages.
Me or dh will lose a weeks pay this time round if we need to take a week off again and that's difficult for us so I am just trying to ensure it really really is worth this risk.

Superdrug with a pharmacy apparently does younger children

My youngest had flu one Christmas- it was awful she was so ill, slept all day, hot and couldn't eat.

I react to the flu vaccine with muscle aches akin to whiplash, like I've pulled every muscle in my body.

I've had flu and it's horrendous

op it takes 3 weeks to get immunity from flu vaccine (nurse told me when doing mine) so it maybe that dd was incubating flu before - the flu was very bad in Australia in their winter this year -

My then one year old caught flu last year and was pretty much asleep for five days, waking for a sip of water, a cry and Calpol every four hours. It was horrendous and I was worried sick. I'm desperate to get him vaccinated this year as I never want to go through that again. I'd rather risk the side effects than have any of my kids go down with flu.

It takes 2 weeks for the vaccination to take effect. As it’s not a live vaccine she must be getting flu close to the vaccine. Focus on hygiene and should he ok

I think this is totally your choice but after my son caught flu I was really shocked at how horrifically Ill he was, I was carrying him to the toilet and putting water into a baby bottle for him to drink out of, he was 5! It was absolutely horrendous and I was off work for two weeks! He’s 8 now and still has a raspy voice from it, gp says it’s likely to be that way now!

Sorry for all the exclamation marks haha i guess it was to infer how shocked i was by it all 😂

I also live in the middle of nowhere...last year 3/4s of the children in our small village school got the flu. Classes were decimated for weeks. We were vaccinated and didn’t get it, we’ve all just been vaccinated again. It really doesn’t matter if your DD doesn’t go to many places, if one of the other DCs does and gets the flu, they will bring it back to infect everyone else.

www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/health/flu-australia-america.html
www.healthline.com/health-news/australia-had-a-horrible-flu-season-what-that-means-for-the-u-s#From-South-to-North

I would think that there are 3 possibilities:

1. Dd was incubating flu before vaccine given (unlikely)
2. She has been unlucky with another virus (possible)
3. Inflammatory response to the body mounting an immune response (quite likely)

If 3. I think it may get gradually better as she gets older. Anecdotally my ds was quite unwell after 1st nasal spray, under the weather for 2nd and 3rd and has not a problem since.

slightly off subject - did anyone notice that 2 people were diagnosed with Diphtheria in Scotland - yes they were traveling from overseas, but the point is that it was brought into the country & traveling by plane is like being in germ soup anyway. The point is a lot of the anti-vax don't want their dc to have any vax which leads them open to these horrible diseases. My parent generation didn't have the choice & my dm had a baby who died from this.

My youngest was in hospital with flu when he was 4. It was awful and it took them ages to figure out what it was (flu was confirmed after a nasal swab) as he had so many secondary symptoms. So both of mine have had the nasal spray this year.
Also I was told that they vaccinate young and old because they are more vulnerable, not just to protect other people.

@mumwon I wouldn't consider myself anti vax as stated I've given dd everything else, this will be dd 4th nasal spray if she has it and previous 3 times she's been quite unwell that week after having it. It's not given at one time in the year so again just seems strange and have perhaps incorrectly linked the two.

Probably just coincidence?

For seemingly no reason at all, my DH has had flu a few days before Christmas twice in recent years. Not related to any jab, as he doesn't get the flu jab, so I guess one of those things.

I'd count yourself quite lucky if your DD is able to get the vax at school...our school has had to cancel ours due to vaccine shortage, which I am really cross about (tho obv not with the school).

We had most of the class off the week before the flu jab, coughs cold fever runny nose sore throat most off for 4-5 days, then the flu nasal spray, people are still saying it must have caused it!!!! It was before we even had it. Rare for children not to get ill and need several days off at this time of the year, happens to all kids every year.

Will you keep your dd off school on the vaccine day? I like you, am not antivax at all, and DD has had all other vaccines (bar rotavirus) but we aren't doing the flu vaccine for personal reasons. I'm concerned about her being around the other kids who will be shedding the live virus after the nasal spray. I've told the school I wish to take her out for the day of the vaccines, and been told it will go down as unauthorized and I could face a fine for doing so.

We usually get our daughter vaccinated right when the shot first comes out in October. Otherwise, it's already in the air and could be incubating.

It is a live virus so they could get ill or shed it.
My dc1 seems to react but more in a behavioural way. So not seeming ill but will play up more. I guess just not feeling 100%.
The viruses included change yearly so you would get different side wffects each time.

I’m in Canada and we have been told that they aren’t doing the spray this year as apparently it’s not very effective?

I'm pro vaccine...just putting that out there before I begin!

I know the vaccine isn't a live one, however, I worked in an office with 13 other people. They all got the flu vaccine while I was away on holiday (I planned to get mine once I got back). Every single one of them then went on to get the flu within a couple of months, two hospitalised. All cases were confirmed flu, so not another virus or bad cold. That really put me off! Especially as one of the ones who got hospitalised hasn't been the same since.

I live in Australia and there have been cases where people have died of the flu and had been vaccinated within the past year. I'm still so dubious. While I'm dubious, rightly or wrongly, I'm refusing to get vaccinated. I'm currently pregnant and am really feeling bullied into having the flu vaccine, even though we have now left the flu season - and I'd never been vaccinated for flu with my previous pregnancies. My hospital consultant is the only person who understands where I'm coming from and he doesn't get vaccinated against the flu himself, which I find strange considering his profession.

I just want to do some more research myself before making any full blown decisions or conclusions.

That’s a virus then, not flu.

Flu is a virus.
I didn't say they had flu. I said they have come down with throat infections, coughs and streaming noses...pretty much all of them....the week after flumist....2 years running.