Page 2 | Help persuading Son to have his Covid Jab

Mia85 · 10/12/2021 13:44

I can see that vaccine centres are very busy and that the booster programme is probably taking highest priority now. But it does seem that providing some kind of reassuring service for needle phobic people could make a significant dent in the numbers that haven't been vaccinated at all. This study from Oxford suggests that even in adults it's about 10% of vaccine hesitant people. For teens it much be much worse given that a much higher proportion of teens/young people have some form of needle fear onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jan.13818 and the risks of the virus are much lower for this group. Surely there's a significant public health benefit to doing something to help people who rationally agree that they should have the virus but have a phobia of doing so.

Loudestcat14 · 10/12/2021 13:51

Needle phobia aside, does he actually want to be vaccinated? If he does, maybe do what I did with my needle-phobic DD12 – book an appointment and as soon as you get there explain that he's extremely stressed about the needle and ask if they have somewhere quiet it can be done. The people at our vaccination centre were amazing, arranging a private room and having the calmest, kindest clinician come in and administer the jab. BUT beforehand they talk through the vaccine and the side effects and have to ask whether the child consents. Mine said yes, but you've got to be sure your DS will, otherwise it's pointless going. Good luck, I found the situation pretty stressful myself!

Loudestcat14 · 10/12/2021 13:55

Also, my DD12 had her headphones and phone primed to play music as a distraction but in the end she didn't need it. She said the jab was less painful than being scratched by our cat!

Loudestcat14 · 10/12/2021 14:00

Sorry, I also forgot to add that when you book an appt for a teen, it's usually done at a specific clinic session set aside just for 12-15 year olds. It might help him that it's just other kids there.

They really do need to make provision for helping needle phobic children and adults. I rang our local health authority to see if they were setting up any special clinics and they reacted like I was asking if they knew when aliens from Mars might land.

VikingOnTheFridge · 10/12/2021 16:22

@CaliforniaDrumming

Surely there should be some kind of exemption for autistic people. I am feeling distressed for him!

Ideally there would be some special provision for people with needle phobia and/or sensory issues. There must be at least some of them who would like to be vaccinated but need a lot of support.

XenoBitch · 10/12/2021 17:09

Phobias are irrational. Showing him news reports and graphic articles wont help at all. You can't scare someone out of a phobia. They do not work like that.

parietal · 10/12/2021 17:23

The 2 big vaccine centres I've been to for my first two covid vaccines have been v sympathetic to my needle phobia. I think if you book in a big centre, they probably have more capacity to give extra help.

s1h2o3na · 10/12/2021 19:03

@Wills

Weirdly have just had an email from the school Nurse to provide me a link with where to get his jab booked as he’d missed it being done at school. I responded immediately explaining that he’s needle phobic and what suggestions for getting help could she provide and was told that I would have to take him through CAHMS and that there was an 18 month waiting list (at the very least). However she also stressed that the vaccine centres are NOT set up for this which is a massive shame. Her final thought was useful and that was that I could get an anaesthetic cream from Boots. But I’m not sure it will help his initial phobia

what the f...referring to CAMHS ,what bollocks, we've just had a CAMHS assessment after many months for self-harm induced by lockdown and they haven't offered anything to us other than a link to a charity for online CBT. I would also agree that wishing to persuade him yourself can backfire as ultimately you are trying to persuade him to have it for the health benefit of other people rather than for his own health needs(ditto the reason why he had the flu vacc and if he chose to have that it shows he is possibly open to motives) ...hypnosis is great for phobias but he does need to be sufficiently motivated to get over this phobia. Have any of his good friends had it already? Peer pressure is pretty relevant for his age group so maybe you could approach someone/someones parents who he respects the opinion of.

Almostwelsh · 10/12/2021 19:10

I don’t understand why needle phobic people can’t be prescribed diazepam as a one off to get vaccinated. If they need a vaccine sooner rather than later they don’t have time to mess about with CBT. A single dose of diazepam beforehand might sort it for them.

XenoBitch · 10/12/2021 19:11

@Almostwelsh

I don’t understand why needle phobic people can’t be prescribed diazepam as a one off to get vaccinated. If they need a vaccine sooner rather than later they don’t have time to mess about with CBT. A single dose of diazepam beforehand might sort it for them.

It might work for some, but not for others. It depends how severe the phobia is. Also, some people are not allowed benzos.

Almostwelsh · 10/12/2021 19:14

@XenoBitch it might not work for everyone, but it doesn’t seem something on offer for anyone atm unless they push for it. A referral for therapy, just isn’t quick enough, even if they could start it tomorrow, never mind with long waiting lists.

Cookerhood · 10/12/2021 19:14

Emla cream won't help if his phobia isn't about the pain. DD has a phobia which wouldn't be helped by this. I have to say, she has got so much better since her phobia started (about 10 years ago). She doesn't like having injections but she does it because she knows it's best for her & everyone else but she does not want to discuss the process at all, it makes her go very strange.

Mia85 · 10/12/2021 19:14

@parietal

The 2 big vaccine centres I've been to for my first two covid vaccines have been v sympathetic to my needle phobia. I think if you book in a big centre, they probably have more capacity to give extra help.

If they could just do something small like allow you to flag a person as needle phobic when you book or highlight those centres with space and capcity to take more care with those who struggle with this then that would really help.

I am most worried that a bad experience with amplify the difficulties that we have getting the usual vaccines. I think he's personally much more at risk if he doesn't get e.g. his MenACWY vaccine than if he doesn't get the covid one. For that reason I don't (and he doesn't) want to take the risk of turning up not knowing what the reaction to his phobia will be. He was actually fine as a child but this started with the first vaccines at secondary school when he had a bad experience.

KatyRebecca84 · 10/12/2021 19:19

@Wills

My son, 15yrs, is petrified of needles. Also he had his flu squirt (up the nose) and was then ill for the next week - and to be honest he really wasn’t well so I suspect it had nothing to do with the flu vaccine and that he was already harbouring something anyway. But, in his head, he’s put 2 & 2 together and got to 5 iyswim. At 15 I can absolutely frog march him in and insist but I’d like him to actually understand what the alternative is and why he has to do this.

Yesterday I took him through news reports about how 90% of ICU beds are occupied by non-vacc’d people but does anyone have some links to slightly more graphic examples of what happens when you fall ill. I don’t want to petrify him but equally I need him to realise that the 4 seconds of pain as the needle goes in (and possibly feeling under the weather the next day) is nothing compared to suffering the full thing.

He’s 15… I very much doubt you’ll find any examples of anyone his age being in ITU! I personally think that given kids aren’t meant to suffer that badly, he doesn’t need to be persuaded.