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.

[Devlesko]

Yes, and if your auntie had balls she'd be your uncle

[catx1606]

No but it's a sharp reminder on how good our basic hygiene should be.

I'm not an anti Vaxer, we just delayed our child vaccinations until his immune system was developed enough to cope. I don't agree that an 8 week old baby is able to cope with the onslaught that the first lot of vaccinations bring, why else would they react so much? By waiting until he was old enough (2 years old) he has had almost all his vaccinations with no reactions at all.

The flu vaccination is guaranteed to work either. It's based on the strains in one hemisphere and theres no guarantee that the strains it's based on will be around. They can be totally different ones. This happened the other year. There are over 100 strains of the flu

[Boredbumhead]

What if it's a Malthusian response to overpopulation and overconsumption and the earth trying to rebalance itself. It's has zero to do with vaccination. It's odd to conflate this virus with others that do have vaccines.

[JoMumsnet]

Hi all. We have a new Coronavirus topic (as requested by many Mumsnetters) and are moving threads over as and when we see them.

We're moving this one over now.

[JellyfishandShells]

YUBU. People used to stay home when they were sick. If you want to call watching TV in bed and eating chicken soup and toast as "self-isolating" then go ahead, but for most people that was the extent of measles, mumps, chicken pox -- the normal childhood illnesses that most people got, stayed inside for a week, then got well again. Why would you refer those illnesses as if they were the same as small pox or polio?

I had measles in the 60s and it was not a mild illness- darkened room, daily visits from the GP, cooling bed baths by the district nurse and my mother and grandmother to bring my temperature down - no Calpol then.

[GnomeDePlume]

I think the OP makes a very valid point. Times have changed. Many households depend on the adults in the home working full time. GPs arent local or are working themselves.

We arent set up to cope with widescale quarantine.

[Jenasaurus]

I agree, my late DF (born in 1928) told me that he was told he had killed his 5 month old cousin, which is harsh but he had Whooping cough at the age of 5 and spread it to his baby cousin who sadly died. Nowadays we have all these vaccines we have forgotten how fortunate we are.

[halcyondays]

I had all the vaccinations that were offered at the time. At school We had polio drops which tasted very salty, the six needles and BCG.

I’m in the age group that didn’t get MMR, I think a measles vaccine was given, not sure at what age. I had both measles and chickenpox as a toddler. I had the rubella jab at about 13, when only girls had it. This would have been early 90s. Never had mumps.

[AnotherMurkyDay]

There is nothing scarier than being in hospital while you wait for test results to comeback and tell you if they have something terrible wrong with them (in my case it was only a meningitis scare thank goodness). The moment I realised that's what they were investigating I held my breath and could not breath again until they told me. Thankfully I knew it was very unlikely my child had many other deadly diseases despite being desperately ill because of vaccinations. As a child I nearly died of things my children got to get a pin prick and then be immune too. My parents got to get sick and watch family members die from things that I could be vaccinated against as well. We can never prevent everything (like this corona virus) but not preventing what we can? It's baffling really why anybody would not vaccinate.