Very Very anxious about mmr

[ariane5]

My 3 dcs (10,5 and 2) have had all their jabs except mmr. When dd1 was little I made the decision not to have it done as read so much about it that scared me and I couldn't bear to give her something that could potentially make her ill.

I know that the mmr is now supposedly safe and the doctor who caused the initial worry struck off but I cannot get out of my head what I read.My new gp has been on and on at me for a good 18months to get dcs vaccinated with mmr and I have cancelled numerous appts-now EVERYTIME I go to gp they spend at least 15 minutes asking me to have mmr-they even said last week that any one of measles/mumps/rubella could be fatal to my children and were quite aggressive in getting this point across-not the best idea as Iam 7 months pg, terribly hormonal and worried about the jab anyway without feeling like my children could be struck down at any time and be seriously ill-it doesn't help me make a decision when they are being so pushy.

ds and dd2 have severe egg allergy too but they have said they would be fine to have it done at gp surgery and would not have a reaction.

I feel torn-if i do it I will be terrified and not sleep for a good 3 weeks untill all3 components of the jab have worked in case of a severe reaction and if i don't I will be panicking that they will catch measles/mumps/rubella.

All 3 have other health issues-a genetic disorder affecting connective tissue(eds) dd1 has a chest prob(pectus excavatum) causing reduced lung capacity and ds and dd2 severe allergies and a resulting poor diet.All 3 catch EVERYTHING going and are unwell a great deal and the gp has mentioned that their immune systems are not great and measles etc could be very bad for them.

I have tried everything to come to a decision but the more I read the more confused and upset Iam not knowing what to do and I feel so pushed by the gp and every dr i see at the surgery.

I really do not know what to do.

We live in a country where most people are or have been vaccinated for various diseases throughout their lives. We can see what the long term effects of this is, just by looking around. Most people are healthy, unscarred and not deformed from childhood illnesses and live long lives.

Does anyone know if there have been hypothetical clinical scenarios carried out whereby every parent decides not to vaccinate their children against diseases and what the consequences would be? Even though our general health is better and health services are better than countries where they don't routinely vaccinate, would we still be in a country where most children pass through childhood relatively unscathed by measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, polio etc?

oh, the flu jab thing was just farcical.

shedloads of propaganda for it, and then all of a sudden, it is not safe for under 5s - great. one of the principle groups it was aimed at.

In that case Leonie you are very lucky that the rest of us do. We are protecting your children even if you aren't.

Why aren't the vaccines safe?

POsie - are you implying that all vaccines are safe for everyone?

handbagCrab, I'm a fan of vaccines, but those changes have many causes, including reliable sewage systems, clean water, better diets, central heating (really - prevents lung problems), the NHS, industrial safety and child labour laws, and antibiotics.

The real childhood nightmare diseases were polio and diptheria, though, and those were wiped out by vaccines - phew. Putting them in the same list as measles, which in Europe was hardly ever fatal (occasionally, though), and even more oddly with rubella and mumps, obfuscates the issue a bit.

The OP might actually not be stupid to say the measles vaccine isn't worth the perceived 'risk'. Autism is a LOT worse than measles. Diptheria is MUCH worse than either, and I would risk autism and paralysis to prevent it, and to prevent it in other people's children as well as my own.

Note that I'm not saying Wakefield et al were right, merely that people aren't stupid to say that if there's even a .000001% chance they are right they might not want the MMR.

Marvin, I will not be backed into a cul de sac where we speak in absolutes. I am growing a little bored of your attempts to make me say something which you can leap upon as if to prove I don't know what I am talking about. We all know that some people cannot have vaccines,,this is not what we're discussing, is it?

I am not trying to back anyone into a corner.

your posts are confusing.

if you know that vaccines are not 100%safe for everyone, why ask why other posters think they are not safe

on the one hand you seem to want to discuss matters, but if anyone actually asks a firm opinion of you, you back away.

extraordinary.

and similar to what Leonie said - lots of "Wakefield was wrong. he shouldn't have said what he did'

but no one actually willing to commit to what they think he said.

odd.

Don't be.

Sorry there really isn't anything else to be said.
No amount of thinking about and going over the evidence is going to remove the doubts from your head. You just have to take a deep breath and do it.

I have yet to read anything to convince me of the risk of the mmr.....

no no, Leonie.

you know now how it goes - have a query about vaccines? don't ask. don't worry. don't read anything. just do it. it's all for the greater good.

not even the Cochrane report, Posie? which (just to jog your memory, as I am sure you have read it in depth) concluded that there was not enough evidence (since it discounted the vast majority of mmr studies which are commonly quoted as flawed) to conclude that the mmr was safe.

did that not give you cause to think just a little? an impartial government report, commissioned to lay to rest all the fears about mmr, and it could not find enough evidence to state categorically that the mmr had a good safety record, with decent safety trials?

The British Medical Association recommends that children have the MMR vaccine. That recommendation comes after experts in the field reviewed evidence from the Uk and overseas. It included a huge study from Denmark in which all children between (I think) 1991 and 1997 were looked at. Of course nobody can guarantee the vaccine is risk free. Nothing is risk free, but medical experts generally agree that the risks to your children's health of not having the vaccine significantly outweigh the risks of having it.

I give up!

Posie, what are you asking me to look up on the Internet? I was asking what you thought because I am actually concerned that you appear to think that the vaccine itself does not protect your child, only herd immunity which suggests that you don't really understand how vaccines are supposed to work.

Just popping back to make a statistical/medical point - you cannot PROVE a negative.

As you were.