To think that the Corona virus is a sharp reminder of why vaccinations are so important

[Mummypigisalwaysright]

All these people in quarantine with suspected Corona virus shows exactly the lengths we'd have to go to if something like measles or mumps started doing the rounds again.

Quarantine used to be standard for things like mumps, measles, diphtheria. My nan today told me the harrowing story of when she had to be quarantined in hospital at two years old for two months because she'd been exposed to diphtheria. She had forgotten how to talk when she came out. I recently re-read a childhood favourite, the twins at st Clare's, and in one book the twins were quarantined as they had played tennis with a child who had come down with mumps. It used to be a common occurrence and was really the only way to prevent the spread of the disease.

My generation (early 30s) and the few generations before me have never really had to deal with things like quarantines because vaccinations have mostly eradicated the disease's that plagued our older generations childhood's.

Would our society cope, would our NHS cope ,with so many more vulnerable people who could really be very ill should these illnesses come back? Would workplaces cope with parents off work if they had a child that had just come into contact with measles they then had to quarantine?

It's a very sobering thought that we take for granted these diseases have mostly been eradicated due to the pain and experience and research of our past generations.

So where is the corona virus vaccine then? How can you be pissed off with people not getting vaccinated if it doesn't exist?

Each illness is different and each vaccine is different and it doesnt just contain the virus. Other stuff is added which is different depending on the vaccine. Sometimes that is what people base their decision on. I have had some vaccines and others I won't have after weighing up the risks.

I would be wary of getting a new and untested corona virus vaccine when I am in a low risk group to be honest.

I agree!

I was horrified to find out that my husband (and none of his siblings or nieces/nephews) have had the MMR jabs. The in-laws STILL believe that the MMR causes autism. You can’t argue with stupid.

@MrHodgeymaheg I think the OP's point is that there isn't a vaccine, so we are pretty much defenceless against it and just have to hope it doesn't spread, that we won't get it and if we do, that we aren't the ones who die of it.

It's a reality check of just how vulnerable we are without vaccination.

Without vaccination, it wouldn't be just Covid 19, it would be all influenza, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Chickenpox, Diptheria, Tetanus, Polio, HiB, MenC, Hepatitis B, TB, Smallpox, Whooping Cough, Yellow Fever, Rotavirus, Pneumococcus, Cholera, Hepatitis A, Encephalitis, 4 types of Meningococcal Meningitis, Rabies, and Tick Borne Encephalitis that we have to worry about.

I knew people (including a baby) who have died, were disabled or seriously ill from preventable diseases. I'm not that old, I'm middleaged. I was hospitalised aged 26 due to somebody not believing an infectious child should be at home instead of transmitting their disease to a pregnant women. I know what it feels like to be collapsed on the floor without enough breath in my body to reach the phone to call for an ambulance and be stuck there for three days (I was about 24 and perfectly healthy). I knew people whose children lost limbs from meningitis. I know what it feels like to not fancy going in for double Physics on a Monday morning, sit on the sofa and then wake up on Friday afternoon two stone lighter.

The complacency about vaccination is as a direct result of there being vaccinations - we don't all remember what it was like to come in and be told in class that Nicola is back but we mustn't say anything to her about her baby brother because he died, of being told making a Get Well Soon card for Stewart is a lovely idea and then the cards are hidden because he's in intensive care with Tetanus and the teachers are waiting to see whether he makes it before sending them on - of the baffling assemblies where 'a little child has been taken up to live with God' and coming out, not realising what they meant, but somebody saying 'Sara's died, we saw the ambulance come to her house and her Mum was screaming in the street'.

Covid reminds some of us of that feeling of helplessness, wondering who will be there on Monday. Or being told when we ask for ice cream because we've been in bed all week with Measles and say we're going to play with David when we're back at school 'Oh, no, David's Mum and Dad have moved away so he can go into a special hospital to be looked after'.

@MitziK your post gave me chills! So well put.

Before vaccinations the stillbirth and neonatal death rate was ridiculously high - somewhere between 40-70% of all children didn’t make it to 15. A mother of ten or twenty might only have 2-3 children survive into adulthood. This is why we didn’t see substantial and sustained global population growth before the 1800s.

The Pneumococcus vaccination of children and over 65s may be relevant in the context of a corona virus epidemic as afaik the complications and deaths are mostly down to secondary infections. I've read that the vacc offered to over 65s on the NHS (PPV23) is an older type which may possibly not be as effective as the PVC13 used for children - it might be worth looking into whether you should pay for the latter if you're in a risk group. (I'm not a medical professional, this is just what I've gleaned which may be worth finding out more about for some.)

What @MitziK said so well.

I don't understand this thread. There is no current vaccine for cornovirus is there? Viruses evolve to outwit vaccines in the same way as bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics.

I'm with boredbumhead, I'm not a anti vaxer but how does something that doesn't have a vaccine be a reminder to get vacinated, fair enough get vacinated but tiring this into covid 19 is sad.

I don't understand this thread. There is no current vaccine for cornovirus is there?

The point, as has already been stated by a pp, is: seeing the fear the coronavirus brings is a good time to reflect what it would be like if we also had all those other infectious diseases, many of them a good deal more dangerous than the corona.

I don't understand this thread. There is no current vaccine for cornovirus is there?

Read MitziK's post.

The point of the thread is that the world is scared about the spread of coronavirus and there's medically not a lot that can be done about it and people are dying.

Now imagine having that feeling for measles, flu, rabies, tetanus, diptheria , polio and more.

Despite us having vaccinations for lots of preventable diseases that can kill, there are still people who'll argue their potato memory water is better than a vaccination, placing their children's lives at risk and other people's lives at risk.

I do see your point that it is a reminder of how vulnerable we are. The reason I would be wary of a Covid-19 vaccine is we would not be aware of any long term effects. It would be a new vaccine with a small timeframe in which it would be tested, so that makes me nervous and I believe that means there is some sort of risk there. I may well feel very differently though when numbers start to surge in the UK.

I used to step over my uncle as he hauled himself along the corridor to the loo on his elbows.Polio had made him paralysed from the waist down.

My 55 year old sister still wears jam jar type glasses due to measles. And yes, we too had children who didn’t return to school.

I will always be pro-vaccines. I had a school friend die due to a disease for which there is now a vaccine, and one of my teachers was disabled for life as a result of another disease for which there is a vaccine. And I am not old - only early middle aged.

Do a bit of family history research, and you soon start to realise how valuable vaccines are. Reading the death certificates of all the children (and adults) who died in your family from now vaccinable diseases is heartbreaking.

@Boredbumhead errr viruses don’t evolve to outwit vaccines. That’s not how it works, they’re not sentient. A new virus is a result of random mutations and not really relevant to vaccination at all. You are thinking of bacteria which become resistant to antibiotics over time because the antibiotics kill off all the susceptible bacteria allowing the resistant to flourish. That aside the point of this thread is that everyone is in a panic over a relatively mild disease, imagine what it would be like if polio made a comeback.

@MrHodgeymaheg surely it would have similar effects to other vaccines of the same type? The biggest risks tend to be adverse reactions to ingredients or catching the disease if it is a live vaccine.

@DingleberryRose - It’s a sharp reminder that we shouldn’t be eating animals...

No. More like a reminder why we have animal welfare standards. For animals, and for humans.

I had both measles and mumps as a child and just carried on, it was just a regular childhood illness 35 years ago.in fact we currently have a mumps outbreak in our local area and no quarantine happening. Dd2caught whooping cough and no advice was give to stay indoors. Im not sure any of it is comparable?!

YANBU, and I suspect when those diseases start making a comeback, vaccination rates will rise again. The reason so many people got vaccinated when they were introduced was because their parents saw the devastating effects of the disease. Those who have never seen a sibling, neighbour or friend go blind due to measles or be paralysed from polio are more likely to think it just a mild disease.

Absolutely right. If our local kids had had the whooping cough vaccine, then I wouldn't have caught it. (When I was a kid, it wasn't available). It took me 3 months to fully recover. Most unpleasant.

I think the anti-vaxxers forget the importance of herd immunity. Sadly, it is rarely they who suffer the consequences.

@Reginabambina this suggests that viruses are intelligent. news.usc.edu/9791/researcher-teases-out-secrets-from-surprisingly-intelligent-viruses/

So true, OP, so true - yet it seems 1in 5 people on this thread are anti vaxxers 🤷🏼‍♀️

Coronavirus is among 5 WHO declared PHEICs (public health emergency of international concern) - think also Swine flu, Ebola, Zilka and, most tragically and preventably, a resurgence of polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan due to vaccination rates dropping

Now imagine having that feeling for measles, flu, rabies, tetanus, diptheria , polio and more.

I’m in my late 40s. There was a girl in my class in middle school who wore calipers and was permanently disabled after contracting polio in early childhood. I also remember my younger sister being very ill with measles and other kids being hospitalised after a local outbreak. We both had mumps in primary school too. I am glad my own children are vaccinated and won’t have to suffer those illnesses.

I'm 40. I went to school with a victim of polio. Must have been a late case as we were all vaccinated but I've still seen it. It is shocking