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?

NYANBU

DS hasn't had it and won't be.

As someone has already said, it may be back in a different strain..if, indeed there is the third wave, so what would have been the point of vaxing against that?

that should read has had absoluetly no side effects

And I work for the NHS and I, like many other NHS workers have not had the jab.

I had it and have the normal flu vaccine every year due to serious underlying health problems.

I don't have children but two things (apart from all the reported stuff mentioned here) has struck a chord with me and would mean that if I was pregnant or had children then would still be going for it:

The thread on here

And the fact that I've been told by friends at 2 separate hospitals that they have cancelled operations because quite a lot of children that get it badly get it really badly and need intubating. It's not just the swine flu it's the fact that it can lead to pneumonia.

Personally, I would rather do something now to try to prevent my child getting really sick now ven if it means it might affect them 40 years from now.

It confuses me why people only ever half trust our medical professionals - for me either you trust them or you don't. I've had various treatments that haven't been tested to the nth degree and so have a lot of people but as soon as the word vaccine is mentioned they don't. Do they really research everything they use in the same way?

I don't doubt they work and are effective, that's not the problem!

DS 9 months is having it on saturday. We've ummed and aahed but decided to get it done in the end.

there are a few people on here saying their children had it and had no side effects.

you can only state your child had no immediate side effects but no-one knows the long term effects from a vaccine that is not tested on children.

i'll not be getting my children (8, 5 and 3) vaccinated.

Yeah, thanks Canella, i think everyone is well aware there may be long term side effects. Everyone is weighing risks and trying to do the best for their DC.

Anway if there are longvterm side effects you can come on here and tell everyone 'i told you so.'

Our knowledge of the long term effects of anything is limited though. It's a fallacy to assume something isn't safe beacuse it hasn't been around for a hundred years. That doesn't mean I think vaccines are risk free. No intervention is - but I know which risk I'm happier to take. Last year I saw a patient go to the brink of death from seasonal flu, this year it's been somebody my family know personally. That really is enough evidence for me.

Mine have just received their invitation. They are 2.5 and 4yrs old and I am due 3rd baby in a week.

I have had the vaccine - was about 32 weeks PG I think and was strongly advised to have it. I did think about whether or not to get the children done but swine flu is still very risky for that age group. Added to the fact I'll have a baby in the house in a week or 2 and if the kids came home with swine flu and were very ill it could potentially be a nightmare - looking after them and a baby and worrying about the baby getting it.

I just have to think about the times they've been ill before - a 2 year old with a very high tempo goes downhill really quickly and I am not willing to underestimate the effect on them of catching swine flu.

And those that say it's not been tested on children are talking out of their bottoms. I know for a fact that the Oxford vaccine Group (and their parter groups at hospitals etc) have tested it on children as we were invited to take part in the study - we couldn't though as the uptake was so high all of their places were filled.

So - I want to get the kids done but my surgery invited us to come to a clinic - but in their wisdom have decided to do it ONLY on a Thursday between 2pm-3.30pm which we simply cannot get to. Such a limited time frame it's crazy.

Northern, I think that's at the core of my dilemma. I don't personally know anyone that has been seriously ill from swine flue, but do know two people who have had Guillain Barre Syndrome, and nearly died, from the injection.

We are going to make a decision one way or the other when DH returns home from work at the weekend.

I feel caught between a rock and a hard place really. I want to give him it to protect him, but then what if he gets ill??

Sigh. Being a parent sucks sometimes.

nl there is a difference though between vaccinating people who are in a vulnerable category (ie who have underlying health problems) and vaccinating an entire population.

I can totally, totally see why someone would vaccinate themselves and/or their children if they had an underlying health condition which meant that SF would affect them more severely. But young, healthy children are not dying in their droves. Of the people who have sadly died of this, a tiny, tiny minority have been people without underlying conditions.

My son (3) had it on Saturday and had no side effects at all (not even a sore arm). I had it myself when 18 weeks pregnant because it really isn't any different (apart from being for a new strain) from the flu vaccine they give every year to pregnant women and at the time there were a few women in the news who had died soon after having their babies. My argument to myself was that there may be some unknown effect that noone's spotted from flu vaccines yet but there was a very real and understood risk if I caught swine flu. Good luck with your decision!

The way I see it there is a proven possible side effect of swine flu - severe illness or death. Ok so the risk may be very small but it is still there.

At present there is no proven possible side effect of the SF vaccine therefore myself and the DC's will be having it as it is high risk. There is no proven risk of the flu jab in general and this is similar.

I'm not sure why the HP uptake rate is relevant. The average HP is not in a high risk group. If I wasnt high risk or the children were older I would not have it.

The argument that they are selling stocks off to third world countries is strange considering many surgeries around here do not have adequate or any stocks to vaccinate the high risk groups!

my ds 4.9 had it this afternoon, i feel abit funny about it but up till now he seems fine and hasnt lost his appetite fingers crossed he'll have no side effects!

there is a double sided sheet of A4 paper with information to read and he cant have calpol or nurofen.

Not having it isn't irresponsible, just like not having MMR isn't irresponsible! It's a very responsible and thought out decision. Often more thought out than having them, I might say.

No side effects means no side effects right now. I hope there aren't any long term effects too. But given that there are now known to be long term effects just from giving Calpol, it's not irresponsible to bring unknowns into the risk-benefit analysis.

DD's are 2.4 and 3.11, not having it here.
My SIL's DS's are 5 and 9 and not having it either. Their father has had it as he is a paramedic and he reacted veyr badly to it.

As far as I know they are not testing for immunity before vaccination.

My 2.5 hasn't had it yet, and I am newly pregnant and undecided about whether to have it or not, however should I decide to vaccinate both myself or my daughter I resent being referred to as a 'jabber', I think it is derogatory and unnecessarily emotive.

DS1 (4) had it because he was due an op and I wanted to minimise the chances of him being ill and missing his slot. Also, he tends to react badly to respiratory bugs. DS2 (13m) hasn't had it, mainly because he hasn't not had a cold for long enough since we got the phone call. DD (6) hasn't been offered.

My ds2 wont be having it, their is no research or studies being done on children who have poorly chests and low immune systems, when I got ds1 done, they told me well it has to be this way, due to their being little research on the vaccine (as in only testing on healthy children with no medical problems/history) not what I wanted to hear, when ds2 has loads of medical illnesses/allergies.

Ds1 however has had it and is fine, no side affects afterwards.