To ask for vaccine reassurance

[24hoursfromTulsamom]

My 15 month old is overdue for his one year immunisations and I’m feeling stressed about it. I want him to get them asap (postponed due to illness - his and the nurse’s) because I don’t want him to get sick and he’s in daycare, but also I have anxiety and there is a tiny part of me that worries about autism.

To be clear, I know the MMR stuff has been discredited and the guy struck off. But I have two autistic siblings, one very severely disabled, and there’s a tiny part of me that is fearful. I know it’s in his best interests to have his shots but I wish there was someone who could put my mind at rest. Are there any moms on here who have had a similar experience? I was nervous about the covid jab too but still had two shots of it while pregnant and was fine obviously.

I am not an antivaxxer and do not want to hear from antivaxxers - it’s an anxiety thing and I would just like some kind words to make me feel less worried. Thanks

I pre-date the MMR, so I had German measles and measles as a child. I was very ill with measles, and it affected my eyesight. I now have expensive glasses with a complicated prescription.

Mine is just anecdata, but it backs up the scientific evidence about measles affecting eyesight.

Ok - vaccines are very important. But also it is very very unlikely that he will catch eg measles in the next few days. Children don't have their first MMR dose until 1, and while children under 1 do catch things, this is not common. There were only 49 confirmed measles cases in England in the first 3 months of this year (amp.theguardian.com/society/2023/may/04/measles-cases-on-the-rise-in-england-say-public-health-experts) which is a rise but still you're very unlikely to come across someone with it.

I listened to a talk at Cambridge University from a specialist, he was the uncle of Sacha Baron Cohen I believe, and he was talking about vaccinations and bad science. I remember him saying that the first signs of autism are beginning to be seen about the same time as the vaccines are due and that people just needed something to 'blame'.

For what it's worth I have doctor friends and research scientist friends and they all have had their children vaccinated without hesitation. As have I, they've both been fine. I have a older family member who nearly died and has been left with lifelong impacts from one of the illnesses vaccinated for in the MMR. It's easy to forget how horrific they really can be.

Nevermind Wakefield who made no money on vaccines unlike your GP surgery, read through patient information sheets and make your mind up.

I wish I had listened to my gut feeling and done the reading of the PILs,not after I had to take my child to Aand E couple of hours after vaccines.

I had measles as a child due to not being vaccinated - they had to place me into a coma for 3wks. My earliest memory is of living in the hospital, terrified and in pain, I remember a little pink plastic basket with a Cuddly pig in that I sat and played with all day in my hospital bed. I very nearly died. There is no way I could let my own children go through that when I can prevent it.

They've had all their childhood immunisations plus Chickenpox vaccines.

@Bloopsie please read other PP's comments about how terribly their families have suffered with avoidable childhood illnesses.

Andrew Wakefield should be in jail.

I recently read this novel. Found is very interesting on the subject.

www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/58696120

Why? If you had read the patient information sheets of the vaccines autism is the least of the concerns but one of them as “neurological damage”, side effects also are meningitis,encephalitis,death etc. Rotavirus vaccine side effect beside rotavirus itself is also obstruction of the bowel etc

I am like many other parents, ex pro vaxxer turned anti vaxxer thanks to the vaccines but wakefield, after my child was jot injured once but twice by the toxic injections and has lifelong damage.

In fact, many doctors like me gave their kids an extra one. Both mine went to nursery before the age of 1, at a time when lots of idiots weren't vaccinating their kids and I didn't want to put them at risk. So they both had an early dose a month before nursery, as well as the two normal ones. Know lots of other Drs who did the same.

I'm really sorry to hear that your child was damaged. Any medicine that works has side-effects. The risk/benefit ratio for vaccines is massively in favour of being vaccinated - but there will be the occasional child who has a bad adverse effect. I hope that hasn't turned you off all vaccinations, as it would be tragic for your child to suffer more harm from avoidable disease.

Bloopsie, I too have seen severe vaccine injuries and I don't think it's helpful to dismiss people's concerns as a lot of these threads tend to, as it can cause issues as per patient information.

Having said that, vaccines save very many more lives than they harm and the risk of contracting measles with side effects are statistically more likely.

OP please get your child vaccinated, Wakefield has been debunked thoroughly on this topic.

Because he spread the lie that vaccines cause autism. For his own gain, no matter how anti-vaxxers like you like to pretend otherwise.

He won’t. But you’re doing the right thing by protecting him with the vaccine. We’re so, so lucky to have them.

The risk/benefit ratio for vaccines is massively in favour of being vaccinated - but there will be the occasional child who has a bad adverse effect

@Bloopsie I'm sorry your child had an adverse reaction to their vaccine, but this ^^ has always been the case with vaccines and any kind of medication.

Advising people not to get their children vaccinated because your child was one of the miniscule % of children who suffered side effects is dangerous.

How do you think smallpox was eradicated worldwide? Why do you think that polio has all but disappeared in this country?

I am old enough to remember seeing children who had had polio in metal leg braces. I have crap eyesight due to contracting measles when I was six.

For his own gain

I'm not wading into the vaccine debate, but this is quite inaccurate. Any individual going against mainstream medical opinion is very rarely doing it for their own (attempted) gain; it's the equivalent of trying to fight 20 hungry lions with your bare fists just to look cool.

Have you read the PILs for anything? Paracetamol for example, you'd never take it! They have to cover lots of side effects that have been reported, and I'm sorry to hear your DC had a bad reaction to a vaccine.

Again, it's always risk vs benefit, but I know that's not helpful when you are the one who had the adverse reaction. I always think the disease vaccinated against has potentially major consequences to long term health and its more likely the disease will cause problems rather than the vaccines.

Noble, brave Andew Wakefield. Boldy telling parents not to get their children potentially life-saving vaccines for the meagre reward of millions for selling test kits for a condition he made up. Not all heroes wear capes.

I am not vaccinating at the moment I plan to delay it. Mainly because of things Ive seen others that I personally know go through. I did the same with my 1 st vaccinated at 3 years old.i just felt that 1 was too small, but that's a personal opinion. Autism also runs in my family which wasn't necessarily caused by vaccines. But I just didn't want to take any risks.

All of my three were vaccinated with MMR and were absolutely fine. No reaction at all.

When I was a uni student one of my close friends at the time caught measles and it developed into encephalitis. She was seriously ill in hospital for a couple of weeks and very weak for a long time after that. Fortunately, over time (quite a long time too) she did make a full recovery but for a while it really was touch and go.

Get the vaccine. These diseases are awful.

If you are worried, why don't you go private and have them separately rather than the MMR. No point to have this anxiety and go through it.

To blunt, if your child has autism it will be because of a genetic link as it's in your family, not because of a vaccine.

And yet you are, statistically, taking a much bigger risk by delaying vaccines than getting them at the proper times. Based on your “personal opinion”. Madness.

Your child is more likely to have autism due to the genetic link with your brother.

The vaccine has no link to autism.

2 of my children are autistic and I wouldn’t have them any other way, both “high functioning” and both obviously different from birth. All 4 of my children have had every vaccine offered bar the flu spray.

They have changed the vaccines and changed the schedules so many times and the only thing that hasn’t changed is that kids are still being diagnosed as autistic. There was an increase for a while as the diagnostic criteria became broader, and so did awareness. (Also funding and educational support became more available depending on where you live, so there was more incentive to get your child diagnosed.) The population has blown out exponentially and more kids are being vaccinated than ever (yay!) and yet the percentage of kids diagnosed remains roughly the same.