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

No harm in research, but stick to reputable medical journals etc, who, nhs. There will be a lot written online by nobody’s with an agenda and misinformation. Dr Wakefield has been universally discredited for his research so any followers of him should be too. The pre and post vaccine data in this country speaks for itself on infant mortality. Yes it’s normal to be nervous around vaccines but when you are faced with the side effects of the ‘live’ ones (menb) you realise how bad the full blown infection could be if this is just a taster!

If you’d bothered to read the full thread rather than jumping to be rude then you’d know wouldn’t you? OP has honestly said she’s done a little Google research only but has concerns.

This is an opportunity to help inform about the benefits of vaccines. by being a dick then you run the risk of frightening someone away and then finding their answers from anti-vaxxers. But as long as you feel better…

The childhood schedule of vaccines is based on long standing vaccines that have eliminated or near eliminated diseases that killed and disabled thousands an thousands of children. They also work because of herd immunity so I woudl say not only are you protecting your children, you are protecting everyone's children and everyone who is immunocompromised by that decision.

On the issues of research, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ Pubmed will give you some access to medical research on this topic. But, as an information literacy professional, I would caution you with reading scientific papers and summaries. Most of us, myself included, do not have the expertise with statistics to fully assimilate this information. For example a headline "eating carrots quadruples your chance of dying of bird feather syndrome" (completely made up, just FYI) is terrifying. But if it actually raises a 0.0000001% risk to a 0.0000004% risk you might feel very different about the risk you are taking. These papers are not written for lay people (non experts) and while I do think scientists do need to work on their communication, you can and should listen to your GP and other medical workers supporting you. They do have your baby's best interests at heart.

It's also ok just the find the process upsetting. I fully believe in vaccines but the moment of 'letting someone hurt my baby' as it irrational feels is utterly horrible and I cried after every time. But that's emotion and not the rational case of why you are doing this

Totally agree. Anyone on MN who points out that vaccine injuries are in fact a thing is just accused of being anti vax.

You haven’t done research. You’ve looked at spurious google search results. Vaccines save children’s lives.

Completely unnecessary as I’ve never said I know better.
If that was the case do you think i’d be putting myself in the firing line by ‘people like you’ by trying to educate myself?

Mine had all the vaccines including chicken pox bar the covid one. I have friends in the medical field who see the 1% who are seriously ill so i go by what they do with their kids ie vaccinate

I was completely pro vaccines until covid. After clean water they are the most import public health intervention. BUT during covid a healthy group of people were strong armed into getting a new vaccine, of which we knew little about the efficacy and long term effect, against a virus that posed almost zero risk them. We were lied to and blackmailed by a government whom it's not apparent we're acting in our interests. The end result is people like the OP are now questioning other vaccines, which are tired and tested and have been shown to be beneficial. The trust is gone and this will cost lives.

You don't have to. You're here questioning them all.

I think you need to separate out the traditional childhood vaccines which have been well tested, where we have lots of evidence on side effects over the years and that protect against very serious illness v Covid shots which are not well tested and we don’t have the information on long term effects.

I got my daughter all the childhood vaccine's but no way will she/I take a mRNA ‘vaccine’ until longer term studies are done on them.

Who makes money from your child not getting ill? Yes, people and services are paid a wage to vaccinate your child. However, in a true capitalist sense, there is far more money to be made flogging you cures once you child is ill. Or therapy for you once your child is dead. Or flogging you separate vaccines rather than the efficient all in ones.

The people out to make money in this system aren't the ones offering vaccines to your baby. It's the ones persuading you to instead buy the snake oil.

Ah OP you don’t need to do any research- it’s all been done for you by many scientists and medical professionals. They have concluded that vaccines are safe and effective and save lives. Enjoy your lovely baby and trust the process.
Having worked in paediatrics and seen some very poorly unvaccinated children there was no question whether my children would be vaccinated (GP).

I completely understand where OP is coming from. It's completely counterintuitive to allow manufactured chemicals into your child. However I have always supported vaccines and my DC are vaccinated because
A) family member died of an illness that would have been prevented by a vaccine
b) it protects other children who can't have the vaccine for some reason
I would say now it's even more important to vaccinate. As NHS and public services deteriorate, illnesses will likely rise and there won't be as good treatment or it will be very expensive and vaccines themselves could be too expensive if you wait for DC to decide as adults. Hopefully a labour government will stop the decline but we can't guarantee long term anymore sadly

Have you ever looked at old historical records or visited a stately home or graveyard...I went to a small museum/stately home near me and it was really shocking reading how many of the children in this particular family had died as infants. Vast majority of their children had died from the same illness which had passed round them. It was really quite shocking

Indont know how else to research other than look at the internet? I’ve spoken to my GP
and health visitor who both referred me
to leaflets on the internet

Exactly. I had someone I know refuse to vaccinate her children because of her opinion that they would be protected by ‘herd immunity’ however this is a not a valid method as

1. herd immunity relies on a high % of vaccinated children. But if it did spread locally your child could die - or be seriously ill - we all know you get little pockets of outbreaks every now and again.
2. a vaccination doesn’t stop you catching it but the bodies defences are better able to defend you. Eg I have had 6 vaccines - for Covid as I’m ECV and I’ve caught it twice and been ill but I have no immunity due to steroids that I have to take. Without the vaccines I probably would not have survived.
3. some people can not have the vaccines (allergy or whatever or chemotherapy or whatever) and herd vaccine needs to be as high as possible for them
4. viruses mutate quickly - even if you don’t have a vaccine for that strain of virus you body cells are better able to adapt and fight it when prepared with a vaccine
5. The mother of the child I referred to at the start compromised her son as he wants to travel at aged 17 and couldn’t as he didn’t have the required vaccines and medical insurance didn’t like it
6. your immune system when you are younger builds up a fighting system using these vaccines and children tend to be more resilience to infections than adults - older adults tended to be the ones worse hit by Covid whereas children seemed to bounce back - this is partly due to their exposure but also other medical reasons
7. some anti vaxs peddle myths such as my children are all fine but actually they are fine in this country at this time - but if TB suddenly pops up again or they catch it on their travels or from someone coming from overseas / it could easily kill them - why? When it’s preventable
8. In some countries to go to the ‘state school’ your child must be vaccinated - it’s a legal requirement to protect the others and staff so you need to be aware of that

I do suggest you read the link I posted previously. It is an academic study by Imperial.

Also it's absolutely not a money making exercise. The NHS doesn't make money, that's part of the reason its in difficulties. This is not like the US where pharma can give doctors financial incentives to pushe their proprietary treatments which is morally abhorrent.

I worked on one of the clinical trials for one of the covid vaccines. Don’t believe everything you read online, there really is some nonsense out there. Vaccines save lives.

In fact saying you would take the vaccine because that baby's mother didn't is irrelevant. The measles vaccine didn't begin in the uk until 1968 or thereabouts.
I had measles in about 1954 and fortunately recovered , although I became delerious and talking nonsense for a while apparently . If it had been available my parents would have had me vaccinated as they did with other vaccines e.g. smallpox.

Measles is deadly. What else is there to say?

I haven’t questioned anybody at all? I’ve constantly said thank you for the information and how useful it is for me?

I had my kids vaccinated because I didn't want them to get sick and I wanted to protect the wider community. It's also why I get vaccinated.

The whole anti-vax movement if fuelled by fear. During covid when people were scared it was far easier to think you had some control over the situation by using alternative therapies and finding support on internet forums full of like minded/ misguided people. The vaccines you will be using to protect your child have been used for a very long time with minimal side effects. Googling vaccines will take you down a rabbit hole of incorrect facts and misinformation. I have a PhD in microbiology and am a senior lecturer in microbiology. My children have had all their vaccines.

Why don't you trust/believe the decades of global and independent research?