MMR, Please help

[griphook]

Hi, was just reading another thead about how many jabs ds will be given very soon.

I've been dreading of giving Ds his MMR pretty much since he was born, and now the time is very near. Does anyone know if it is possible to get the mumps part of the MMR singualry anymore, I been searching for a long time and know one seems to have it. My understanding is only one company made it and they have since stoped production, is this correct?? or does anyone know of any where they may have all three.

so - are all you pro vaccine adults completely up to date with all your immunisations then? or presume you have had your own immunity checked?

For the OP - this is from my book of Pictorial Guide to Common Childhood Illnesses, published in 1970 and full of utterly gross photographs. Re. mumps:

Complications: swollen testicles (unusual before puberty; can be serious in older boys and men). Swollen breasts and painful ovaries in girls but not serious. Pancreatitis and meningitis are rare.

Hence my decision to test for immunity when DS is hitting his teens.

It's interesting to me though that it's recommended that a child with mumps is isolated for at least 14 days following the start of the illness. Given that the horrors of millions of pounds of lost productivity is all over the news if we even have one snow day in winter, I can't see parents regularly needing 14 days off to care for mildly ill children being that popular!

Actually illumina that was one of the ideas used to promote the cp vaccine in the US. I think they calculated the cost of taking time off work to look after your sick child and compared it to the cost of the vaccine to encourage parents to vaccinate for financial reasons. Of course now cp is promoted as a really dangerous disease over there so anyone who doesn't vaccinate against it would be considered a public health threat or something....

I lost a lot of sleep over all this when my DD was born, nearly 7 years ago. And decided to go with vaccinations in the end. I was told I had no immunity to Rubella when I was pregnant, and I had to have a vaccination myself, once DD was born (and I think after breastfeeding ended). But there is no Rubella single vaccination, so I got the MMR with DD, at the same time. And there was no reaction at all, from either of us.

Some people have medical conditions that make it risky to have vaccinations for some reason or another. But they are a small minority. I can't really see why so many people simply make a choice not to because they can. Sure, you should research everything, especially if some are not necessary (in the US they have about twice as many shots, which is clearly just profit for drug companies), but in the end I do believe certain vaccinations are good for people as a whole.

posting at the same time as bubblymummy: yes this chicken pox thing in the US is ridiculous!

But I know adults who had polio as children and were damaged by it. I guess measles is an ongoing debate, but just to say again, the MMR didn't do me or DD any harm.

BM, Rubella may be a mild condition in children, but what about pregnant women?
Totally agree with Winnybella, parents who do not vaccinate are selfish.
For what its worth I do think that single vaccinations should be offered on the NHS to give parents the choice if they are more comfortable with this.

ajmama - the rubella-pregnant woman issue has been done to death on here but in a nutshell, some people, myself included, believe it is the responsibility of the woman to ensure she is immune to rubella if she intends having children. In the same way that you take folic acid to reduce birth defects, you ensure you are immune to rubella. Injecting small children with a cocktail of live viruses that are not needed for their own health is a bonkers approach. imho, obv.

maxybrown most adults would be up to date with their immunisations as the process is a childhood one and nothing much is required as an adult once you have had a certain number of tetanus (is it 5 for lifetime immunity? I know I checked when I needed one and was told I didn't anymore as had had enough in my lifetime).

immunity from vaccines is not lifelong though, its not the same as catching the disease for real (where you do get lifelong immunity) and not everyone develops immunity following a vaccine, so your vaccine schedule can be completely up to date but you're still not immune IYSWIM

I was not referring to tetanus, but surely you must have known that seeing as we were discussing passing diseases on to others? I have never had a measles vaccine for example - and loads more adults will be the same and also never had measles itself/. But as Edward said, not everyone will be immune even those who have had all their vaccines.

Maxy I keep asking this question, but no one is answering me:
I probably had one or two single measles jabs as a child. 30 or 40 years ago. Therefore, I may no longer be immune. MiL never had a jab and never caught measles as a child. Why, then, is the gov't not calling all the millions like me and MiL for the MMR? They aim their campaigns at parents to jab their children.

And I agree with Illumina about the rubella jab.

well measles jab was introduced in UK in 1968 but very low uptake then - 30 something percent. I was born after that but never had it, neither did my brother or sister - but both older than me. I have not had measles, but my Mum seems to remember that my brother and sister did - I had everything else!

Welcome to the club for non-immune adults! So much for herd immunity.

maxy, maybe your had it v mildly? A 'measles-like' virus? If your brother and sister had it it's quite likely you were exposed and it's quite contagious. Would be interesting to know if you came up immune in a blood test! Another MNer - Riven perhaps? - said that when her children's immunity was tested they were immune to lots of things she didn't remember them having and they had not been vaccinated. It may happen more than we think. 99% of cases of polio are asymptomatic or only show mild flu-like symptoms and over 30% of mumps cases are asymptomatic. Rubella can be so mild that many parents don't even realise their child is ill before they break out in the rash. (Like in the case of DS2! and DS1 was only slightly grizzly.) Even more of a reason for women to ensure they are immune because both boys had it under the age of 1 and we wouldn't have known - luckily we weren't out and about but how many babies are coming into contact with pregnant women when their parents aren't aware they have rubella?

Tabitha - I bet your MIL has had measles.

I am up to date on my shots with immunity tested for some diseases that weren't VP when I was little. Is that really so exotic?

Oh well, if some cases are so mild that no one knows the person has measles, then I think even less of the need to have the MMR than I did before.

VP? Vaccine protected?

They would have had it before i was born bubbly, but yes, maybe I have had it mildy - who knows! I have def had everything else though, had mumps very badly but was fine (appreciate some may not be) and yes that sounds like was prob Riven!

vaccine preventable, Tabitha, and your MIL might have been very young, she may not remember.

It's MiL's mother who tells me that MiL did not catch measles as a child.
Interesting point, though, that there may be millions of people aged 50+ who had measles without any long term problems.

per million people with measles over 50, up to 1000 will have died, 4000 will have had severe complications, 100'000 will have had otitis and/or pneumonia.

That leaves 895'000 to talk about measles as "no big deal", but that doesn't make them less dangerous.