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Original poster

Vaccines and Scaremongering

153 replies

expatinscotland · 10/02/2006 14:36

Let's just put it this way: I do NOT trust the NHS when it comes to vaccines. These are the people who until last year were allowing jabs w/mercury to be given to 2 month old INFANTS, years after the substance had been banned in many Western countries, in order to save a few bucks.

I'll never know if this was what has caused DD1 to be delayed w/nearly all her motor skills. I had no idea they were still using mercury. I'm from the US, where it's been no longer put into jabs for infants. I just assumed that was a no brainer and the UK had done the same.

These are folks who allowed children to die, for years, of pnuemoccocal meningitis, b/c the vaccine is expensive.

So yesterday I bring DD2 for her 2 month checkup. I'd already understood that Prevenar, the new vaccine, would be out in Scotland sooner than April and I could put off DD2s vaccines for a fortnight until it was out.

Then I get there and they're telling me, 'Well, by the time the Health Ministers bring it out, maybe she'll be eligible for hte catch up programme.'

WTF?! The 'catch up' programme sounds like a load of shite to me. Upon further questioning, they're only going to give under 2s in the catch up programme two uptakes, one w/their MMR. As infants in the US, they get 3. I asked, what if they're under two but have already had their MMR?

Silence.

Seems the brain donors hadn't thought of that.

Sorry, but I smell a RAT. The HV and GP were encouraging me just to go and pay for it privately. Of course they were.

I told them flat out I trusted them about as much as I trusted a three-armed pickpocket and walked out. I mean, these were the ones who gave mercury filled jabs to infants.

Took some time out and composed a nice letter to my MP and MSP.

I'll post their response here when I get it.

TBH, I don't trust the jabs they give to kids here.

The GP tried to frighten me by telling me my daughter would contract pertussis if I waited until Prevenar came out to vaccinate her at all.

How, I asked? DD1 doesn't go to school and is fully immunised. In fact, we hardly go out at all and when we do, it's to play and walk outside.

OP posts:
ruty · 18/02/2006 17:31

gosh expat, i've had run ins with one particular HVs about vaccinations, but admire your straightforwardness! Luckily there is one experienced gp at our practice [previously specialized in paediatrics] who is very understanding and more knowledgeable. Baby jabs used to begin at 6 months BTW.

Caligula · 18/02/2006 17:34

Gosh expat, you sound like a HV's nightmare!

Keep up the good work!

Highlander · 18/02/2006 18:54

holy f*ck - £168??????? seems a bit steep?

Original poster
expatinscotland · 18/02/2006 19:03

Yep, that's right, Highlander. The place where I got DD1s no longer does them. I phoned all over. BUPA does it. For £168. One place even told me it wasn't licensed in Scotland.

Soph the GP told me DD2 had a '30%' chance of contracting pertussis if we held off till April to begin vaccinating her - she'll be 4 months old in April. But when I asked her where she got that statistic, she couldn't say.

So I said I'd need to research the risk first.

OP posts:
Highlander · 18/02/2006 20:58

have they replaced the bloody mercury with gold then?

Highlander · 18/02/2006 20:58

sorry, that's not as funny as I first thought

Original poster
expatinscotland · 18/02/2006 21:01

That's what I wanted to ask 'em!

I didn't even check myself when the bloke on the phone told me. I just blurted out, 'Are you for real, dude?!'

He started giggling and said, 'Oh, love the accent. Can you say that again?' So I said, 'Are you shitting me, dude?!'

OP posts:
Highlander · 18/02/2006 21:05

After 18 months in Canada, I was still PMSl when anyone said 'totally awesome' or 'fanny pack'

sansouci · 18/02/2006 21:09

give 'em hell, expat!

Original poster
expatinscotland · 18/02/2006 21:12

Or 'sweat pants'

OP posts:
chapsmum · 18/02/2006 21:18

Expat am so glad you were abel to tell them how you felt, I tend to clam up and stutter!!
Any joy with the letter??

sansouci · 18/02/2006 21:19

how about sneakers?

dh was waiting for me to come home with the pushchair so he could take ds out for a walk. I said to him, "i'm almost home. Why don't you get him in his little duds?"

"little duds? whozzat?"

sansouci · 18/02/2006 21:19

sorry for the highjack

Original poster
expatinscotland · 18/02/2006 22:43

No joy yet, chap. I also wrote to the Primary Care Trust, enquiring when surgeries were going to be compelled to provide Prevenar, cuz I know they'll drag their feet to save money. Hell, if they can stick mercury into a two-month-old to save a buck, no telling what they'll do to save 35 quid.

OP posts:
Original poster
expatinscotland · 18/02/2006 22:44

duds. it's like 'bits and bobs'. here are a few duds to go w/it. or doodahs.

OP posts:
getbakainyourjimjams · 19/02/2006 00:08

Hey expat go for it! Would love to say that to a bigwig as well.

If you happen to come across single paediatric tetanus on your travels please let me know :-) (whatever the cost!)

Socci · 19/02/2006 00:17

Message withdrawn

Socci · 19/02/2006 00:18

Message withdrawn

ruty · 19/02/2006 09:26

my hv told me diptheria is still endemic in this country. This is not actually true either.

ruty · 19/02/2006 09:33

BTW i was vaccinated as a teenager and my skin never reacted to it, i was told this means the vaccine didn't 'take' but don't know if this is true.

getbakainyourjimjams · 19/02/2006 10:19

Last case of diptheria in the UK was 1980 something iirc (might have been early 90's)- contracted in Pakistan (info from a dept of health report). No idea when the last home caught case was.

Original poster
expatinscotland · 19/02/2006 10:47

I remember my GP saying she didn't know why three courses of DTP are given - two should be enough iho. The whole thing is a shambles.

I just looked at the NHS Scotland's 'A Guide to Immunisation for Babies up to 15 Months of Age', and the schedule calls for another DPT and polio at 3.4 to 5 years of age. After having 3 as an infant. So they actually need four courses of the stuff to confer immunity?!

WTF?!

Sorry but I'd have been unable to put that mercury in any baby, especially when I knew damn well there was a mercury-free one available at the time, but it was more expensive. No, I just could NOT do that to people at all, much less babies, knowing there was an alternative.

And if it doesn't bother her, then she's got a screw loose somewhere and I wouldn't want someone w/so little sense of doing what's right near my kid, anyhow.

OP posts:
Socci · 19/02/2006 11:18

Message withdrawn

getbakainyourjimjams · 19/02/2006 20:20

The big trouble with vaccines is that they are above suspicion. It is acceptable to have any other drug reaciton, but if you suggest your child may have had a vaccine reaction you are treated as if you have a screw loose.

Expat- the pre-school jab has been mercury free for a while- they just kept thimerosal in the baby ones(!) One thing I don't understand is that having too many tetanus jabs is not a good thing- that's whay these days they are strict about 10 years between boosters as adults, so why on earth start with a 2 month old baby. If their cord has healed they're not much at risk of tetanus (unless bitten by a dog/cat) until they're crawling.

Fauve · 19/02/2006 20:29

I think they now say to adults that if you've had three or four (?) tetanus boosters in your lifetime, you shouldn't have any more.

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