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Children's health

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Original poster

Singles vaccines, is it true there are no mumps available?

127 replies

mummytowillow · 11/10/2008 22:34

The time has come for DD to have the MMR and I'm really not happy giving to her, hubby has agreed we will do the singles but on DH2000 website I noticed that the mumps is not coming in until 2009??

So if this is true, any ideas where I can get it? We live in Kent but willing to travel to London etc?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

whomovedmychocolate · 11/10/2008 22:36

You can get it privately - my friend's DD had it. Google private vax in your area and you'll find it!

Supplies are low though, you may have to wait a month or so to get an appt.

bleurgh · 12/10/2008 07:16

Mumps is not that bad for girls (it's not that bad for boys either tbh so long as they're young) so if you have to wait it will be alright. Girls that have mumps are more protected against ovarian cancer too. If I was a vaccinator that's one I wouldn't be that bothered about for a daughter.

CoteDAzur · 12/10/2008 07:28

What is wrong with waiting until 2009? It's in three months.

I only vaccinated DD against measles, by the way. If she has mumps as a child, great. If she doesn't, she can have the vaccination when she is older.

fedupandisolated · 12/10/2008 07:34

Mumps can be a killer - whether you are male or female. Lets not be complacent here.
I looked into the whole single vaccines thing too but the difficulty in obtaining the mumps vaccine is what pushed me towards the MMR.

Mumps can cause meningitis and encephalitis - nasty complications that can kill or leave a child with serious disabilities.

Rare complications but one child affected for lack of the vaccine is one too many imho and why I ended up going down the MMR route.

If you want to go down the single vaccines route then tell the clinic you want them to guarantee supply of the mumps vaccine (when it's due) before you will part with any cash.

CoteDAzur · 12/10/2008 07:48

You are scaremongering. When was the last time anyone died from mumps in the UK? Even in any other developed country?

There were 16,000 cases of mumps in the UK in 2004. Nobody died. Scary killer disease

Blandmum · 12/10/2008 07:52

At one point the single mumps vaccination was withdrawn, as it didn't rwork ver well. Not sure if it was replaced with anything.

Prior to the introduction of the vaccinations mumps was the largest cause of menigitis in the UK.

people must weigh up the risks and benefits of vaccination, but all the risks do need to be taken into account

fedupandisolated · 12/10/2008 07:55

Not being scaremongering honestly. These are real complications. I did loads of reading about measles, mumps and rubella before vaccinating my DS.

Initially I did not want him to have the MMR and was all set to go down the single vaccines route - the lack of mumps vaccine and what I had read about the rare complications (NHS Direct and many other sites) put me off the single vaccines - simple as that.

16,000 cases and nobody died - great - but did all 16,000 survive unscathed? That we don't know.

The mumps vaccine can be got - my point was that nobody should be parting with any cash unless the clinic can guarantee the mumps vaccine - the risk imho is not worth taking.

QOD · 12/10/2008 07:55

My dd had the single rubella jab followed 1 yr later by measles. They did not recomend the mumps, its in the mix for boys apparently.
What I thought was odd was that everyone who was anti single jabs was adamant you had to have 6 jabs over 3 yrs, yet the reality was 2 jabs 1 yr apart.
We went to Harley st, I am sure that if they felt she needed boosters they would have told me she had to have them - bearing in mind the ££ I paid!

bleurgh · 12/10/2008 08:06

It is being a bit scaremongering. I mean vaccinations can cause encephalitis too. You pick and choose your risks, but you need to have all the info before you do. Did you know about the 16 000 cases of mumps before you went down the MMR route? If you didn't, can you honestly say you were well-informed before you made your decision?

Blandmum · 12/10/2008 08:08

yes they can, which is why I said risks and benefits.

But similarly, you can't just ignore the risks of not vaccinating. Informed concent and all that

CoteDAzur · 12/10/2008 08:08

fedup - You claim mumps kills. Please then answer the question I asked in previous post: When was the last time a child died from mumps in the UK?

LazyLinePainterJane · 12/10/2008 08:10

So mumps being such a killer, you will be re-vaccinating when the MMR wears off yes?

CoteDAzur · 12/10/2008 08:14

The point I am trying to make is that these childhood diseases were much more dangerous in the past, in times and places when/where adequate care was not available.

In developed countries, children dying from measles & mumps is unheard of these days. (Rubella was never really an issue)

bleurgh · 12/10/2008 08:16

MB I really don't. I would always say to people "read more deeply" than "don't do it" (apart from joking on another thread) because it's such a personal decision. But by that I mean -- try to go beyond the NHS direct site at the very least. And think about the maths, and think about why largely innocuous childhood diseases are moving to a more dangerous age group, and so on.

bleurgh · 12/10/2008 08:20

Yawn but..

childhood diseases are not all bad

mumps protects girls against ovarian cancer
if you've had measles you're less likely to have asthma (which kills 1400 people a year in the UK)

when people say "oh you've forgotten how bad they were because we never see cases nowadays" I think -- no I haven't, I had measles, everyone I know had measles

There were 100 deaths a year before vaccine was introduced and that was on a downward slide. Now we know that doses of Vitamin A vastly reduce morbidity, complications and mortality (WHO) I don't like the feeling we have now that it's like the black death or something.

ADragonIs4LifeNotJustHalloween · 12/10/2008 08:25

It's not scaremongering, it's presenting the other side of the argument.

fedupandisolated · 12/10/2008 08:27

Not a clue tbh - can't remember from my reading - was 4 years ago. Just remember that it was the biggest cause of meningitis before MMR (before a mumps vaccine in other words) and a number of children died or were left permanently brain injured as a result. Scared the hell out of me.

So in serious cases CAN be a killer (I don't recall claiming it ALWAYS kills - just that we should not be complacent) also in serious cases that complications may cause long term disabilities. For me just was not worth the risk. Had the clinic been able to say for definite that they'd be able to get the mumps vaccine I'd have had single vaccines for DS but they couldn't and I wasn't prepared to risk it.

My way of looking at my options for DS was

No mumps vaccine - then either he got mumps or did not throughout life.

2 No mumps vaccine - then if he did get mumps the possibilities were that he would recover unscathed/that he would have a serious case but recover without probs/that he has a serious case and has long term probs/that he becomes so ill he dies.

My criteria was that if he were to develop mumps and have a long term problem or had died I would not have been able to live with myself.

It was a risk I wasn't prepared to take with DS. Other parents can do what they like and make their own decisions.

I am just saying don't be complacent and assume that mumps is always a mild illness because plainly it isn't always the case.

Weight up the risks and decide what's important before making a decision.

I repeat for a third time - the mumps vaccine CAN be got.

bleurgh · 12/10/2008 08:28

Vaccines can be a killer - whether you are male or female. Lets not be complacent here. Vaccines can cause encephalitis - a nasty complication that can kill or leave a child with serious disabilities.

Rare complications but one child affected because of the vaccine is one too many imho and why I ended up not going down the MMR route.

Is that not scaremongering either.

fedupandisolated · 12/10/2008 08:29

Oh and I did go well beyond the NHS Direct website - just used that as the most obvious place.

bleurgh · 12/10/2008 08:33

fed up

unfortunately the vaccine does wear off, around the age when it's more dangerous for your child to contract the disease, esp if a boy

fedupandisolated · 12/10/2008 08:33

Back to OP - there is a clinic in Bath - will try to find details for you who DO guarantee supply of the mumps vaccine. I know it's a long way but they may be able to suggest nearer clinics for you.

fedupandisolated · 12/10/2008 08:35

...and if children are immunised then it wearing off won't be a problem - if there are still low immunisation uptakes then he will need a booster.

gagarin · 12/10/2008 08:39

Mumps infections can cause oophritis and infertility in girls as well as boys. So it's not as easy to say just do the boys.

Mumps does not kill many people worldwide - but it can kill through encepahilitis.

www.nationmaster.com/graph/mor_mum-mortality-mumps

Weigh up the risks and make your own decisions.

CoteDAzur · 12/10/2008 08:40

fedup - You are prolific poster on this thread. Yet you still have not given an answer to my question:

When was the last time a child died from mumps in the UK?

fedupandisolated · 12/10/2008 08:41

It was Clarion Health Clinic in Bath - have just checked their website though and it does now say they cannot guarantee supply of the mumps vaccine - a pity as they used to. I found them after DS had the MMR through a friend that used them.

If you google Clarion Health they should come up - based in Bath.

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