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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to turn down the jab?

129 replies

Twistiesandshout · 17/02/2021 09:57

Another Covid one sorry but am genuinely unsure. I am breastfeeding 10 month old dd. I have the option of booking my jab. Not ready to stop feeding yet due to many reasons.

Official guidance changed in late Jan to say breastfeeding mums can have the jab.

What would you do?
YABU - to turn down jab
YANBU - to turn down jab

OP posts:
NoSquirrels · 17/02/2021 13:21

there’s no plausible biological mechanism for it to adversely affect baby.

As a PP says, this is the key for me. How will the vaccine affect your breastmilk? It provokes an immune system response, it isn't like alcohol, Thalidomide or anything you ingest.

It's like thinking you'd pass on a cold virus through your breastmilk. Which you don't.

I'd have the vaccine if offered it as a breastfeeding mum precisely because being a breastfeeding mum whilst feeling ill (which is the proven effect of catching the Covid-19 virus) is miserable. And if there was a small chance I was so ill that I had to stop feeding the baby abruptly, that would be far more distressing.

ShirleyPhallus · 17/02/2021 13:21

@Twistiesandshout

Only just now having break from work.

it's so interesting to me that most people would have the vaccine. I would have thought the opposite! Am reading through comments now.

Why do you think most people would choose not to have the vaccine when the guidance is in place that it’s safe?
Pumperthepumper · 17/02/2021 13:23

Doubt anyone said trepanning was safe, even back in the day. It was a medical intervention with the same relationship to a vaccine as thalidomide.

We really can't say it's definitely safe. We can say we think it's safe. Different thing. Again, not true. It’s a tested vaccine, we know the risks, we know as much as we ever do about the long term affects. We know as much as we ever do about the risks. It’s patently ridiculous to pretend that means we don’t think it’s safe.

WineInTheWillows · 17/02/2021 13:24

But it is impossible to guarantee that anything is 100% safe - there is always the possibility that however much testing you do there is a small risk you have not detected.

Exactly. And this is why, with any medical intervention, even paracetamol, it's important not to simply tell people it's safe, because it might not be for them. Informed consent means considering any known risks and the likelihood of unknown risks- having all information laid out. People will make their own minds up, but I don't think it's defensible to pretend anything is 100% safe and dismiss someone's concerns as stuff and nonsense.

ThereIsNoSuchThingAsRoadTax · 17/02/2021 13:25

Doubt anyone said trepanning was safe, even back in the day.

We really can't say it's definitely safe. We can say we think it's safe. Different thing.

It is impossible to say categorically that anything is safe. We make an assessment of risk on the basis of observed effects. Testing has shown that the vaccine carries a negligible risk of ill effects. The virus kills and has long lasting effects on a significant proportion of people who don't die.
Make your own decision by all means, but your an irresponsible fool if you don't have the vaccine. Lower vaccine uptake will lead to more deaths and a lengthening of the economic and social impact of the pandemic.

WineInTheWillows · 17/02/2021 13:25

We know as much as we ever do about the long term effects

Exactly.

Pumperthepumper · 17/02/2021 13:25

@WineInTheWillows

But it is impossible to guarantee that anything is 100% safe - there is always the possibility that however much testing you do there is a small risk you have not detected.

Exactly. And this is why, with any medical intervention, even paracetamol, it's important not to simply tell people it's safe, because it might not be for them. Informed consent means considering any known risks and the likelihood of unknown risks- having all information laid out. People will make their own minds up, but I don't think it's defensible to pretend anything is 100% safe and dismiss someone's concerns as stuff and nonsense.

So you don’t take paracetamol because of thalidomide?
BunchIsBloom · 17/02/2021 13:25

I'd go to the appointment. I'm bf my 2 year old which they asked about at appointment, they checked and said it was fine but did also say they'd turned a couple of others away for bf small babies.

Original poster
Twistiesandshout · 17/02/2021 13:27

@MyFloorIsLava

In the UK: 4 million covid cases, 118k deaths, massive numbers of people severely ill with long term complications

15 million doses of the vaccine, no reported deaths or very serious reactions in the UK (god knows it would be all over the news), excellent protection against a potentially very serious illness at the cost of maybe some sort lived aches and chills.

The numbers say get the vaccine.

Good point!
OP posts:
Original poster
Twistiesandshout · 17/02/2021 13:29

Shirley, probably just because that was my own initial feelings. Not based on any real evidence at all.

OP posts:
B1rthis · 17/02/2021 13:30

Look at KellyMom and her information on how iron is transferred to babies via breastmilk.
It may help you make a decision.

WineInTheWillows · 17/02/2021 13:30

It is impossible to say categorically that anything is safe. We make an assessment of risk on the basis of observed effects.

Exactly.

Make your own decision by all means, but your an irresponsible fool if you don't have the vaccine.

Emotive language is neither here nor there. With any medical intervention, it's prudent to weigh up potential costs against potential benefits for the individual.

Original poster
Twistiesandshout · 17/02/2021 13:30

In isolation/ lockdown its easy to make things feel worse/bigger than they are and perhaps I was overthinking it. Not really sure. It is so reassuring hearing from so many breastfeeding mums who have had it.

OP posts:
TurquoiseDress · 17/02/2021 13:33

YABU

But at the end of the day, it's not compulsory

However, it is there to provide protection for you, and by extension the people around you who can't have the jab ie your baby

Pumperthepumper · 17/02/2021 13:33

@WineInTheWillows

It is impossible to say categorically that anything is safe. We make an assessment of risk on the basis of observed effects.

Exactly.

Make your own decision by all means, but your an irresponsible fool if you don't have the vaccine.

Emotive language is neither here nor there. With any medical intervention, it's prudent to weigh up potential costs against potential benefits for the individual.

Except it’s an emotive time, and pretending there is any connection between the risk of the vaccine and the risk of thalidomide is irresponsible.
Mrgrinch · 17/02/2021 13:34

You don't have to turn it down and you don't have to have it straight away. If you'd feel more comfortable having it when your DD is a bit older, just wait a while. There's nothing to say you must have it immediately.

TurquoiseDress · 17/02/2021 13:34

Who's KellyMom?

stackemhigh · 17/02/2021 13:35

Please just take the vaccine so I can get my turn.

I'm sure all this navel gazing slows down the process.

WineInTheWillows · 17/02/2021 13:36

So you don’t take paracetamol because of thalidomide?

🙄

What I do personally is of no importance.

The point I'm making is that you can't say any medication is safe categorically. That no evidence of risk doesn't equate to no risk. And that it's disingenuous to suggest that it does.

TurquoiseDress · 17/02/2021 13:37

Or if you're on the fence, just don't have the vaccine and so make way for others who are eligible and would jump at the offer of having it

Frazzled2207 · 17/02/2021 13:37

@Racoonworld

The guidance wouldn’t have been changed if it wasn’t safe, they are very cautious with pregnancy and babies. Have the jab.
This. If the guidance was against I wouldn’t get it.
WineInTheWillows · 17/02/2021 13:37

Except it’s an emotive time, and pretending there is any connection between the risk of the vaccine and the risk of thalidomide is irresponsible.

I didn't. I used it as an example of longer term effects not becoming apparent until the longer term is reached.

SleepingStandingUp · 17/02/2021 13:40

Personally I'd consider how long I intend to BF for. A year? I'd wait 2 months. Until they self wean at 4? Then I'd be wanting it

Marmunia11975 · 17/02/2021 13:40

'They've said it's safe. They are very careful with things like that. Last thing they would want would be load of compensation claims in the future.'

Not true - if you read the small print, you can't claim. The companies have written it in.

I personally wouldn't. I will be refusing it when it comes my time.

Pumperthepumper · 17/02/2021 13:41

@WineInTheWillows

Except it’s an emotive time, and pretending there is any connection between the risk of the vaccine and the risk of thalidomide is irresponsible.

I didn't. I used it as an example of longer term effects not becoming apparent until the longer term is reached.

Still completely irrelevant to the Covid vaccine. We know the long term effects of the vaccine right now. Because it’s been tested according to the processes we test every single vaccine and have done for years and years and years. It’s similar to thalidomide in exactly no way at all.