BCG (TB vax) cancelled - were you aware?

[Callmemadam]

I am amazed, but my ds's school doctor has told us that - as of the end of last year - the BCG vaccination programme has been cancelled nationwide!! The reason is that 'the immunisation will be offered only to those considered to be at direct risk, regardless of age', and a chest physician will prescribe it. My son's year will be the first batch of teenagers who will not be automatically protected against TB, even though the programme almost eradicated TB in this country, and even though it is accepted that it is increasing rapidly in parts of London, Bradford etc, in areas of poverty and higher concentrations of illegal immigrants (official asylum seekers are hopefully screened). We live in Kent, so presumably the risk is infinitessimal, but what if you live in London and your kid is travelling to school on public transport every day? Will your postcode mean you are indicated as more at risk, or will you have to be sitting next to someone coughing up blood? Sorry for the rant, but I am going to take a lot of convincing that this is not just a cost cutting exercise that is being 'spun' to sound good. Has anyone else been told that their children will not be receiving the BCG?

There was a BBC news story about this over summer, and IIRC a thread on here somewhere or other. I agree with you that the vax programme should not be cut.

Yes I was made aware of this by the hospital Dr a few weeks ago.

My 11 week old son has to go and have his BCG this week as DH is from Ghana, I rang and asked why he needed to have it and was advised that it is due to Ghana being on the at risk list and that they are no longer vaccinating everyone so just do them as and when.

I would just like to point out that dh is not an illegal immigrant and that how they came to the country has nothing to do with it.

ooh never knew that!

Must check it out as the 3 youngest have all had it and I would quite like the older 2 to get it as well.

link to bbc news story:-

this

I presume then, given flutters post, that my DS's will also be asked to go and have it when older, as DH is from Zimbabwe which has a very high TB rate.

As she says it makes no difference how they came here - even legal immigrants aren't screened (as far as I know) certainly DH wasn't.

Sorry Flutterbee, absolutely no insult intended to anyone: I was told today that 'at risk' groups would include those entering the country illegally from countries such as the former Soviet states where TB incidence is high, and those who may have family connections (i.e will visit/have visitors) from countries where the incidence is high. Those entering through normal immigration channels are increasingly being screened for disease in their own countries, but this is only recent. My point was that it is on the increase in areas of this country, so it seems that the official policy is to focus on those with overseas links of one sort or another, but the old fashioned policy of general screening to keep it low here is no longer an option, which seems complacent, arrogant, or both. I do hope you see I wasn't suggesting it's a problem from outside.

They not only offer but really encourage the BCG in West London (Queen Charlotte). DS had it before we left the hospital last May. DD, who was born inEpsom, has not had it. We are white English/American so not high risk. But I don't think you have to be. My nephew, who lives in Chicago had TB when he was a toddler... God only knows where he got it, but he did.

When ds1 was born he got it automatically at 4 weeks because he was born at that particular hospital.

When ds2 was born 18 months later - it wasn't automatic but you could ask for it - so he had it.

When ds3 was born another 20 months later, they'd scrapped it altogether, except for high risk groups as you say. I really wanted him to have it though so my HV just sent through the request and 'pleaded ignorance' so to speak so now all mine have had it.

We don't live in a high risk area at all but we do live near a major city and travel in to the centre sometimes so there are times when we could be at risk. It's not something I want my children to get and everything I've seen says it's on the increase.

It's turning into a lottery.......

my neighbour is a doctor of infectious diseases at major teaching hosp in London. she was saying the other week about this - saying it was absolutely ludicrous, given that her three wards were stuffed full of people with TB and that's it.

plus disgusting men walking round gobbing in the strees - no wonder it's spreading like wildfire in London. bleurgh.

In Ireland it is automatic within days of birth usually. Well it ws 4 years ago.

We used to live in Vietnam (pre DS) and have friends (ironically now here too) whose DD has signs of TB and is being treated.

Also knew a guy in Vietnam who had it.

Cannot belive that in times where the world is generally getting smaller they would cut this.

When ds had his pre school boosters in Spetember, I asked the nurse about it and she said she'd not heard that it had been cancelled and she would look into it. I thought it highly amusing that the likes of me were informing her but there you go. Anyway, I looked into it and apparently it's a mild disease! Treatment = Antibiotics for 6 months - Yeah that sounds like a mild disease!!

This paragraph was copied from the NHS immunisation website.

The new programme will identify and vaccinate babies and older people who are most likely to catch the disease, especially in those living in areas with a high rate of TB or whose parents or grandparents were born in a TB high prevalence country.

Tough luck if you regaularly visit friends/family in a high risk area then. Apparently London is classed as high risk, but I suppose not many people go there!

I asked for the BCG for DS when I was on the maternity ward - they refused, said I had to speak to my GP about it (which I never did). Then I heard them offering the BCG for the baby of another (foreign) lady on the same ward (presumably they thought she was from a high risk country). The reason I am so gung ho about this isn't because of any issues about immigrants but because TB was one of the many lung ailments that my factory worker grandmother suffered from, and I had the BCG when I was a baby because of this, so I thought why not let DS have it now, rather than wait till he is 12 and might wimp out of it (DH and childhood bestfriend did!)

Can you get this jab privately? Sorry to say, mummytosteven, your children are not going to be offered this jab at 12 yrs old. That is precisely what they have stopped doing.

Do illegal immigrants qualify for this jab? Do you have to be a taxpayer to get it? Seems rather unfair if you don't. I know this will be unpopular, but I do think those of us paying for the NHS (through taxes) should qualify for any treatment that is offered to citizens/residents of other countries.

If there is a clinical justification for giving the jab, I don't give a fig whether someone is a taxpayer or their immigration status. It's a matter of public health after all - if somebody is from a high risk area, then surely it benefits us all if they are immunised.

Interestingly I have a NHS TB leaflet and on the front it says 'TB is on the increase - make sure you know the facts'

High risk = amongst others is have lived/worked in a high risk area such as south-east Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in Eastern Europe.

Right sounds like a lot of holiday destinations then. It also says that the drug taken for 6 months must be adminstered properly otherwise the TB may return in a form that is resistant to the usual drugs and much more difficult to treat and you may pass on this more serious form of the infection to your family and friends.

Sshh listen can you hear that? - yep don't worry it's only a time bomb!!

Probably best to go to the doctors and say you're off on holiday to ???? Can little Johnnie have the BCG please?

YOu might not be travelling anywhere risky but you could just be travelling on the tube and someone with TB sneezes all over you!

Uwila, not you can't get it privately, or so I was told yesteday "vaccines will not be made available without the approval of a chest pyhsician who will prescribe it". If any MNers know if this is b***ks or if there is a way round it then please tell.

Sorry about typos, hands are cold as DH has cancelled heating the bedroom

I grew up in Somerset and we didn't get the BCG jab in the early 80s either.

Of course, if you grow up in Somerset you don't ever leave and mix with anyone who might have it...

I got the jab through my hospital in Sussex when I was in my early 20s.

Callmemadam, BCG jags are available privately. The Aberdeen Uni medical dept have a Travel Clinic where a friend's two-week-old baby has just had his BCG in order to live abroad.

Interesting thread. Didnt even know that the TB jab was still given. I have never had it, neither has dh, we are 28 and 29.
They stopped the vac the school year before, I believe.

Just didnt realise they are still doing it. My friend is a dental nurse, she has to have regular jabs etc for her job and had a TB last year.

I can't believe they are stopping this jab. My dd had it quite a few months back and this is all news to me. So that means I have one dd vacinated and will have 3 that are not. Stupid or what!