To vaccinate newborn or not

[confusedaboutclothes]

I know this is a very sensitive subject, but i’m asking please for FACTS only - I don’t want answers like ‘because the NHS recommends you to vaccinate your baby etc’

Id like to point out i’m not ‘anti vax’ as such, but covid really opened my eyes to researching vaccines etc i’ve done my own research on whether i should be vaccinating my newborn but it’s hard to find unbiased facts.

What I don’t like, is the pressure that is put on us to do as we’re told with our babies. I don’t like the constant reminders, the phone calls and the pressure to vaccinate - it all feels like a box ticking exercise not because the NHS are actually worried about my baby.

Please be kind, I really am confused about this and would love some different perspectives

I urge you to get your child vaccinated it saves lives.

My friend narrowly missed out on getting the HPV vaccine & died. She campaigned during her final months to encourage people to get vaccinated.

I know the thought of seeing your baby getting an vaccine is scary, but it only hurts them for a second & prevents life changing & fatal illnesses.

They will thank you in the future ❤️

My DD recovered and went back to school after five weeks.
Husband sadly did not get away with it but he could easily have died so I am grateful he is still with me even with some of the limitations.

Covid vaccinations have been incredibly well tested - now more than any other vaccine available, given that billions of people have received them over a period of three years. They were based on well-established and thoroughly tested technologies which had been tested for over 15 years, so we have a pretty good idea about long term effects. No vaccine is immune from side effects, but the relevant developers have monitored their use regularly and have issued warnings where required.

The statistics demonstrate that these vaccines have prevented thousands of deaths and other serious covid-related illnesses. If you don't think covid is a serious illness, have a look at what happened to Derek Draper and think about whether you would wish that on your daughter.

GCSE Science??!?!?!?!

A vaccine is a dead or weakened form of a virus put into your body and allows the body to "learn" how to defend against this virus in future.

Stable viruses like measles etc... can then be avoided after a vaccine as the body can fight the pathogen if it enters the body so the person does not get ill.

Flu and Covid are viruses that mutate so although the vaccine will contain antigens that will fight that exact pathogen, the virus will have then mutated so your body can fight it as a similar pathogen but not quite the same, so less effective so you get ill while the body fights.

That's why you have to have booster jabs which have more up to date antigens based on the latest mutation.

Oh look, it’s the thread police with a pointless comment. 🙄

Do you like your baby?
If yes, vaccinate them.

Agree but this made me laugh out loud

This

@triballeader How awful for you all. I was always told you can't catch measles twice. I do hope your DH gets strength and health back as much as possible.

People can be real dicks. I think the OP is a scared mum seeking reassurance. No need for some to pile on her.

I am a hospital consultant and know with public health messaging, you have far better results if you listen to concerns, answer and inform. Than if you call people idiots, belittle them and mock them. Especially if they are simply anxious rather than an aggressive antivaxxer.

And some people are really wound up by the word ‘research’ used by the OP. It’s perfectly reasonable to use it as a euphemism for ‘look into’. I ‘researched’ car seats. I didn’t conduct randomised controlled trials on them.

I am glad you decided to vaccinate your baby OP. It is the right decision.

The Oxford Vaccine Knowledge Project website is a good resource. Has information on each vaccine, ingredients, side effects etc

People like you disgust me. I don't often say things as extreme as this on Mumsnet, but I'll make an exception for this. You rely on enough of the rest of us to vaccinate our children for the risk to your children to be fairly low. That's how you got away with not vaccinating your children against killer diseases like whooping cough, diphtheria, polio and measles. How would you have lived with yourself if any of your children had died of a preventable disease because you didn't have them vaccinated?

And before anybody starts on with the 'oh but it looked like MMR caused autism' (a) it didn't, not once the full facts were out in the open and (b) I have a child on the autism spectrum. Yes, she's had problems as a result. With hindsight, they were in evidence before she had the MMR and bad as things can get with ASD, it's incredibly insulting to those of us who have ASD children or who are on the spectrum to say that it's better to risk death or severe disability than risk having a child with ASD.

Very well said! Seeing dying of measles as the ‘lesser of two evils’ against asd is disgusting. As yes maybe the mmr scare made people hesitate, but when it was all cleared up why not go and get the Jab the following year! There are some poor kids who can’t be vaccinated, for whom these diseases will be deadly, who rely on the rest of us to keep them safe. We have responsibility to our own kids and the wider community to get vaccinated

lol people still think mmr causes ASD? 😂

My son is autistic and he is amazing. No way did vaccines cause that. Personally I’m really glad he isn’t dead.

I think part of a the problem lies in the fact that we have to make a positive choice to vaccinate our children. There is a world of a difference between a child randomly becoming ill which can be seen as an act of God (thanks for that!) and choosing to take on a risk on behalf of your child .... even though we know the chances of a problem arising are millions to one against. It is that act of choice that some parents find hard. It is understandable, but they can be reassured by the facts.
I share the exasperation of some posters at those who crow that their children have not been vaccinated and have been "just fine" .... they are if course fine because the rest of us have been sensible enough to vaccinate our children.
Well done to the OP for making a good choice.

Just seen this. This is why I just think people who don't vaccinate their DC are making it worse for the rest of society

BBC News - Further measles outbreaks expected in England as cases rise - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw0d7rpr6ndo

What an awful experience.
Your poor husband and daughter.
I wish your husband makes more progress.
Hugs to you
Thank you for sharing.

I really hope those that have been blasé about not vaccinating their children read this and think about the consequences of not vaccinating if you medically can.

Thank you for sharing.

The fact that someone can see vaccines as optional for diseases like polio, meningitis, measles shows what a privileged society we live in today. My parents grew up in a developing nation outside EU and their generation saw so many children die due to unavailability of vaccines. The more children go vaccinated, the less rampant these diseases were.. and the society got safer..as a result today for some people vaccines are optional and something to be feared due to side effects.

Anyway so many of you have pointed this out already to OP and makes me feel glad that there is still sanity and the majority understand and appreciate the privilege of having access to life saving vaccines and medicines.

For every story I'm reading on here of 'this child didn't have the vaccine and died/lost a leg/became deaf' etc, there is a story of a baby having an MMR and dying days later, or a young girl having the HPV vaccine and developing major problems. Re the HPV one, have a read of this poor girl's story.

If you look at actual statistics, as opposed to anecdotal evidence, you will see that there is no equivalence. There is simply no doubt that vaccines have saved millions of children from the risk of serious illness, disability and death; there is no evidence that they have caused those in anything remotely like comparable numbers.

I know from first hand experience that IF there is a good medical reason to suspect a child would or even could experience a serious consequences from any particular vaccine then it is not given.

DD has not been able to have HPV. There is a whole slew of vaccines she has not been able to medically have. In our current society few have a close experience of what some of the illnesses vaccines aim to give some protection from can really do. Vaccines aim to reduce the risks of a person catching a preventable viral illnesses. Mostly such illnesses come with a very real potential to cause life long injury and even kill. Even the healthy, whilst perhaps having more resilience, are not immune from developing complications associated with such.

I see that measles is making a comeback in the UK thanks to low vaccination rates. This always happens when too many people think they can skip the jab and rely on herd immunity from others doing the right thing.

https://news.sky.com/story/measles-cases-surge-in-england-and-wales-fuelled-by-vaccine-hesitancy-over-mmr-jab-13047335

I don’t even think people think their child will be fine because of her immunity, they just don’t think measles is around anymore and don’t stop to think about why they don’t know anyone who has lost a child to measles.

@triballeader Can I ask if the doctors thought your husband had measles twice, or if he may have been wrongly diagnosed the first time? I'm of the generation where we all had measles as children, and we all thought that meant life time immunity, so doctors told us. Of course, no need for you to reply if you don't want to. I'm just confused now.

He defiantly caught it twice.

This was confirmed by the regional isolation unit consultant. Measles is a notifiable disease so tracing from Health Protection teams become involved. Thankfully I had already worked out DD had measles and taken steps to reduce risks for others before the HPT confirmed she defiantly had it. DH had measles as a toddler. For most catching measles does give enduring immunity BUT, and this is an important but, it does not for everyone. Hence the NHS comment of if you do have measles you are unlikely to catch it twice. This means that for a few who have had measles then you might catch it twice. His last test showed he still has not full immunity to rubeola [measles) even after he had the MMR. Please note he is in a very tiny group of people who fail to develop full immunity and like our DD also has to rely on herd immunity. Thankfully DD has developed immunity.