14yo Ds getting TDP + MenACWY vaccine during Covid. Yes or No

[WilsonMilson]

I’m preparing myself to be flamed as I know Mumsnet is very pro vaccines, and I’m not by any means an anti-vaxxer. To date my DS has had all his routine vaccines.

Got a consent form from school for the booster TDP and also the MenACWY vaccine. I’m not against him having them per se, but I’m concerned about the timing with covid. Local cases are high and there have been cases at his school and he’s already had to self isolate because of a close contact. I’m just worried that if he were to receive a vaccine which his immune system will be dealing with, and then he were to catch Covid, that it might be an unnecessary risk at this point.

It’s just not sitting well with me for some reason, and usually I would be fine with it. I’m wondering about postponing it for a year and getting it done at the GP, but then I don’t know if I’m just being silly and that there is no added risk. Perhaps the hive mind of Mumsnet can add some insight. Totally willing to be told I’m unreasonable.

I’m a medical doctor and I don’t really agree with the science behind your argument. The immune system is capable of generating anti bodies to more than one pathogen at a time. If your son is well on the day of vaccination then I don’t see a reason to delay. I’d be more worried about him catching meningitis whilst vulnerable from having had Covid than the risks of immunisation.

This is my personal rather than professional opinion though 🤷‍♀️

I'm not a doctor, but I do work in infectious diseases research. Like the PP, there is no science behind the argument you are making. His best chance of staying healthy and well is not getting an extra illness on top of COVID at the moment, so I'd get him vaccinated. There is a reason why routine vaccination is going ahead at the moment. I think perhaps it might be different if, say, it required a hospital visit to do (and being in hospital puts him at greater risk of COVID exposure, or similarly with the GP). But he's getting it in an environment he's going to be in every day anyway, so there would be no added risk of getting the jab.

I'm a GP practice nurse and one of the few things that we were advised to keep doing during lockdown periods were immunisations so as not to leave people vulnerable to vaccine preventable diseases which would leave them with weakened immune system if caught meaning they were more vulnerable to catching Covid which has no vaccine or cure.

Its a really difficult, worrying time and i get why you are apprehensive however both of these vaccines are inactivated so should not cause an issue with his immune system

Unless he was ill (or in self isolation) I'd get it done (and if the first one I wouldn't be postponing for the year, just till he was better)

Thanks all, that’s really helpful. I appreciate there was no science behind my initial instinct - and in fact the reality seems that it would be better for my ds to have added protection through getting the vaccines than delaying them because of covid.

Everything is so worrying at the moment, and any decision regarding health feels far riskier than it normally would, hence my hesitation.

Some studies have suggested that the TDAP vaccine may have a protective affect against Covid, though this is not conclusive. So for that reason alone i wouldn't hesitate to get him jabbed in your situation.

Even if your son were to get covid, it's likely to be far less serious than meningitis would be. I am not an anti-vaxxer but neither am I in the "everyone who doesn't vaccinate is evil" camp. However, meningitis is a very serious illness and it's a no-brainer to get the vaccine, covid or not.