To think that fascist school attendance policies are responsible for the spread of TB locally

[leftkneeonbackwards]

Well, the policies, and those stupid enough to follow them. and probably measles too, although thankfully, most children make a full recovery from measles. TB leaves many people with life long disabilities though, and I know two young girls who are likely to now be infertile, and a boy with other disabilities. I am sure that TB would not be so widespread if people ignored stupid pointless school threats, were sensible about keeping sick children out of school.

The BCG vaccination is still given to some babies. It's based on the country of origin of the parents/grandparents or if the family is moving to a high risk country.

@leftkneeonbackwards measles spreading is due to poor vaccination uptake due to myths spread by anti vaxxers. Are your children vaccinated?

Measles - low take up of vaccine
TB - higher poverty rates

School attendance is lower despite the fines policy (I don't agree with the fines policy, but the attendance figures are indisputable).

The TB vaccine is given routinely to babies born in some areas of the country eg Manchester council area (but not the neighbouring council areas, so babies born in Trafford don’t receive it) & to individuals identified as high risk such as those with a parent or grandparent from certain parts of the world.

If TB is on the rise, surely the obvious thing to do is to bring back the BCG?

@StiggyZardust in theory, but in my experience it was basically impossible to get that vaccine. It was just passed endlessly between teams.

TB has been on the rise. I live in an inner London borough and my baby 14 years ago was given BCG because of the spread due to immigration from specific countries. I since heard that outer boroughs had started to vaccinate.

@Everydayimhuffling it was really straightforward for me with DC although that was in 2015. It came up on my midwife screening questions & went from there.

Or tackle poverty and poor housing.

Absolutely, but that's not going to be a rapid solution. Rolling out the vaccine again could be done more quickly; posters are saying it's already being given in some areas.

The word fascist is overused these days! Everything remotely strict or ott is fascist it's lost all meaning 😬

My 17 year old had the bcg when we lived in East London, because it was rife. There were "no spitting" signs up too with info about how it spread disease, but it didn't stop people.

My 16 year old didn't have it, as we had left London by then.

As a secondary teacher, attendance is down post covid for a lot of reasons, and hasn't come back up in my area at all, despite letters home and all the usual gubbins. We've even had kids not bother to turn upto gcse exams this week.

Are you on something?

School attendance is worse than ever. People keep kids off at the drop of a hat.

The measles increase is due to people declining the vaccines. You shouldn't be allowed in school if you refuse the standard childhood vaccines.

Interesting you use the word fascist. The government (and ofsted) are the ones who are putting the pressure on schools to get children in. Schools are well aware that this is affecting their relationship with parents. Wait til the September guidance on attendance. There’s no reset each year. If you take your child on holiday for 3 years running expect court action.

There were only 5000 cases of TB in the UK in 2023 and most will have been people with connections to parts of the world where its more common.

'fascist school attendance policies'

Brilliant!!

I needed a laugh this morning OP, well done

'Fascist'. Good god. Go and study some 20th century history and then get back to us.

Does each local authority have a different practice in regards to the BCG vaccine? I know lots of babies who had it at birth before leaving the hospital, Mine included. Except for my youngest because there was a shortage then COVID hit and she didn't get hers as they were running so behind schedule that by the time her appointment came round she was 18 months and I was told it was too late.

School attendance policies are written by the government, you cannot blame everything on schools.

I'm not sure of the exact year, but based on siblings:

People who are currently 33 were offered it at school.
People who are currently 30 and under were not routinely offered it - if you had grandparents in Pakistan, and/or regularly travelled there, you could request it.

I was at a London venue yesterday and sitting near a class, I’d guess year2/3. One little girl wasn’t engaging and looked moody on the edge, I presumed she’d been sat apart for behaviour. They she was sick in a cardboard bowl an adult got out from a stack they were carrying. It was clear she was unwell and it was expected. They didn’t leave either. Poor kid was being dragged around, I felt so sorry for her.

TB is being spread in schools. Children who are not feeling well are being told to come in. Children who are not feeling well because they unknowingly have TB are being told to come in. These children are giving TB to their classmates. How is that not down to aggressive attendance policies.

It is the good "law abiding" children and their families that take these attendance policies seriously. Unfortunately, these children can get TB too

TB is fortunately not very contagious, but it needs to be diagnosed and treated better. The BCG is good at protecting babies but not really a full solution for teens and adults.

Fortunately the medical establishment and the Gates Foundation are on the case so we should have a better vaccine before too long, and get it rolled out in the countries where it's most of a problem.

If there are still idiots put there not vaccinating there kids against measles.....

Anyone who had a positive flower prick/heaf test
back in the day at school potentially can move from a latent infection to an active one.

You will have known a hell of a lot more than two. Most of my class got a positive.

I am in London