to consider not immunizing ds against swine 'flu?

[deliakate]

And can we do a poll - who is and who isn't and what are the ages of your dcs?

Can I ask what people's reasons are for not vaccinating? Is it that the vaccine has not been tested enough?

DS(8) had his jab on Thursday. Was off school on Friday with temperature, headache and cough. Fine by Saturday except cough, all better Sunday

DH also had it before Christmas and was the same as DS for a couple of days.

DS (was nearly 2) had it before Christmas, and didn't have any side-effects at all - didn't even cry when he got the jab, and his leg wasn't sore afterwards. I also had it as am pg, and didn't have any problems either apart from very sore arm for a couple of days.

I don't know what we are going to do, we just got the letter for dd age 3 and mildly asthmatic. Ds is 8 months nothing so far from docs.

thing is I'm fairly certain we all had it in June at the peak of the outbreak. DD did end up in hospital five days after i thought she was over it with a post viral hip thing.

Most of our children are not eligible for seasonal flu vaccine anyway so the "its just like seasonal flu vaccine" argument doesn't really swing it for me

will be watching thread with interest.

Ds 10 months. Not Vaccinating!

I was told (by a reliable source) that the swine flu vaccine has not been tested on under 7's. Which I understand as I'm sure not many people would put their young children forward as guinea pigs. So no-one actually knows how it will affect children. Especially very young children. Especially if problems develop over time. No-one has had the vaccine long enough for them to clarify that it will absolutely, never cause any long term damage.

This is also along the same lines for the reason I, even being pregnant, am not having it done.

It's too soon to prove that the swine flu vaccine will absolutely, never cause damage to my unborn baby. I am led to believe that very few pregnant women have had the vaccine so how do we actually know the outcome that it would have on your unborn baby 12weeks, 12 months or even 12 years down the line!

Shoshe. Similar story for myself - but no underlying condition, just pregnant. I was off work for 3 months and have developed asthma (not sure yet if it is permanent or will go once the baby is born). Now on steroid inhalers but under control. This poor baby has had everything thrown at it - CT scans, X-rays, 5 loads of antibiotics, inhalers. BUT - each and every one of these things on their own have been used in pregnancy for years with no ill effects.

You have to go with your gut and weigh up which risk you are willing to take. Action or not, you are taking a risk.

dd is 14 but has cp so she had the jab as swine flu can kill

Have just had letters through inviting me to make an appointment for my three... 4,3 and 2. I will go ahead and give it to the older two. My 2 yr old had swine flu, a month or so before Christmas, he had it for 14 days, in the end he ended up in hospital, as his temp wouldnt come down.I am not saying it was touch and go, that would be alarmist, but i can see how the 'sting in its tail' as another poster wrote, can suddenly hit home. Thankfully they did the test and i found out for sure it was swine flu, so now, my question is do i give him the jab even though he has had it?

I see no reason to give him the vaccine Jays if you are sure he has had it.... He should be immune if he has had it

Ds aged 7 and now way on earth would he have a swine flu vaccine. Nor would I if I were pregnant. He has had MMR etc, so I am not against vaccines, but I have issues with the whole swine flu thing anyway (as in conspiracy things).

Dh had swine flu, was swabbed for it as he was working in the Netherlands at the time, it was nothing worse than a bad cold. Ds was around him constantly during that time and didn't catch it (or if he did, did not show any symptoms).

Ds pediatrician is dead against it too.

Just got DS2 age 4 letter about it. Really not sure what to do.

My mum was admitted to a Neurology Unitin Glasgow before Christmas, and in a 4 bed bay 2 of the woman were in due to having Guillain Barre syndrome. The only commmon link was the Swine flu vaccine.

I've always taken them all for every jab, but now I am undecided.

11, 9 and 4 months, won't be having it.

Actually, I had a look at the French government's SF website a month ago and they had charts for each week of the pandemic and it did not seem as more kids or elderly were dying from it- it seemed spread pretty evenly. More kids and young adults got it then those over 60.
I will have a look again later as don't want give you the wrong info.

No. DS(4) will not be having it. I'm unsure if he's had SF already as he was poorly over Christmas..(I wouldn't give him Tamiflu anyway).

My sister had Celvapan (egg al.) at the beginning of Jan and has been poorly ever since. (Not that we'd have Celvapan...but anyway).

Each to their own but not for us.

Oh, and I know it's not gospel, but an article in the Times saying the third wave of the pandemic was unlikely to happen sealed the deal for me.

potpuri we were discussing the whole swine flu thing with ds ped when he went for a yearly check up (we are private patients, not reg with the NHS so we take him to a private hospital yearly for a check up to cover our backs).

Apparently, most NHS trusts are going with the line that if you have had swine flu, then you should still have the jab as the virus will have mutated since you had it. But, as the ped pointed out, if the virus mutates that fast, what good will a vaccine do?

here

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8161104.stm

and here

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/ferguswalsh/

I trust my GP. He knows my ds (9) and I respect his opinion. Not that we've been offered the vaccine, mind.

Upandrunning - can I ask if your teens and year 6 have underlying health issues ? Because otherwise they aren't in a high risk group anyway are they ?

vaccine has been tested to same standard as all other vaccinations for young kids.

my Dad had it and said it was fine - no severe pain during/after.

best friend is gp and has said she will be oing ahead with it.

as soon as we are invited, my kids will have it.

YABU - if you don't have faith in this then you don't have faith in the health service IMO. For each child not immunised, the greater the risk for the wider population.

Normally i would get a flu vaccine as would my DD aged 12 and my DH who is asthmatic like myself and DD, I got an invitation for us to have one in the post and also for my DS aged 11 months but i had heard from my mum and other family members that it made them quite poorly so im still a bit about it.

Added to that i am worried about my DS having it because of his age, i have always had my children vaccinated as babies and have done the same with DS but im not so sure about the swine flu vaccine.

Don't think it's reallt a question on being unreasonable. It's a question of why you've made the decsion, based on what information from what sources. I've based my decision on the information available about swine flu risk groups and the potential complications of the illness. This was one of my starting points when making the decision - it's only a snap shot but it started me on the road to sourcing the info I needed:

www.newscientist.com/special/swine-flu-myths-that-could-endanger-your-life