Delayed vaccinations- how best to proceed from now?

[lou4791]

My DD had her 2 month vaccinations at 4 months of age, and her 3 month vaccinations 8 weeks later at the age of 6 months. Due in part to me wishing to space them out a bit, and to surgery cancellations she still has not had the third lot of vaccinations. An appointment has come through for them and I am not sure how to proceed.
She is now over 10 months old so is overdue her third lot of newborn vaccinations, and due her menC and Hib, and her MMR and pneumococcal very soon. Surely having all of these so close together is now unnecessary, especially as the Pneumococcal, Hib and MenC will effectively be doubled up now.
Will my most sensible option be to decline the third lot of newborn vaccinations and continue with the 12 month vaccinations as usual?

I hope someone with a deeper understanding of vaccines will be able to offer some advise.

advice

At the risk of being blunt, why on earth aren't you asking your GP?

Why did she have her 2 month vaccinations at 4 months and her 3 month vaccinations at 6 months?

Do you believe that you know best when vaccinations should be given and that they are spaced as they are for a whim?

Your most sensible option for your child - and those of others whom you appear to be putting at risk for some reason - is to go to the doctors, take their advice and follow it.

This sort of behaviour is beyond me, and in many countries you would lose access to public services because of it...

You need to complete all courses, even if they are late. I suggest you make an appointment as soon as possible for the 3rd lot and then carry on as per the schedule.

onemore I think it is not necessary to be quite so hostile before the OP explains why the child's vaccines were delayed. My own DS' were delayed on consultant's advice following a spell in ICU for example.

I agree that the GP would be best to advise but it is entirely possible the OP is behind schedule following medical advice.

You need to write it all out on paper. It may be that you bring forward the 12 month vaccinations, rather than 'doubling up'. The reason that your baby needs the boosters is because the "memory cells" of the immune system, don't start working until after 12 months of age, so the previous vaccines only last a limited time. Write out what vaccinations she has had and when, in a table, and then write down when the boosters for those are due. That way you will get a clearer idea of what is necessary. You can also spread out the vaccines if you want, for instance just giving one booster per visit - if you do this the pneumococcal (Prevenar) should probably be your first vaccine as that one is quite a high risk disease compared to the others.

I'm not so sure your GP will be able to advise you, unless by some miracle you have one who actually has some understanding of vaccines and vaccination. My own GP, who is great for everything else, knows very little about them or the risk of diseases that they help to prevent.

stillsmilingafteralltheseyears

Hmm. Hostile?

OP said she chose to space some out, and thought about declining vaccinations.
I think the OP needs to consider the impact of declining vaccinations.

I'm very pleased that worldgonecrazy is a paediatric immunologist, but for others, I'd recommend chatting to their - hopefully less ignorant - GP.

onemorechap I'm not a paediatric immunologist, nor have I ever claimed to be, but I do have the benefit of having a leading paediatric immunologist advise me on vaccinations, and I am sharing what he told me. Pneumoccocal meningitis is a much bigger risk to children than measles and that's why he recommended the Prevenar vaccination be done first.

My GP told me that if I didn't vaccinate my child according to the NHS schedule, she would die. That's the level of ignorance that some GPs have.

Thanks, worldgonecrazy.

If he's saying that, no doubt he ascribes to evidence based medicine which would suggest he has evidence that we should be rolling out Prevenar first?

Has he let NICE know, as yet?

and see vaccination schedule which shows:

2 months
DTaP/IPV(polio)/Hib (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, and Haemophilus influenzae type b) - all-in-one injection: Pediacel®; plus:
PCV (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine) - in a separate injection: Prevenar 13®.

12 months, MMR.

So, not only was your mate right.... that's the schedule.

Onemorechap If the OP wishes to space vaccinations or avoid some, is that not her decision to make?

I agree with OneMoreChap, this is a question for the GP/HV to advise how to proceed.

I know we don't have the full story, but this isn't something to be taken lightly and should be sorted ASAP for the benefit of your child's health. I'm afraid your OP makes it sound as if you're a bit lazy and can't be bothered making the appts when they are due. Hope that isn't the case.

Tabitha8
Onemorechap If the OP wishes to space vaccinations or avoid some, is that not her decision to make?

Sadly, yes.
In the US if you haven't vaccinated your kids, forget school... or so I'm told.

If there's a reason why children can't be vaccinated, fine. If it's about woo "science" like the MMR/autism stuff, then no, it's not.

Every child that isn't vaccinated contributes to our risk of childhood epidemics.

This might help Lou:
www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/a/age-interval-table.pdf

Worldgonecrazy

I that your GP probably told you that if you don't vaccinate then your child is at a 'higher risk of death' rather than your child will die (really?), in which case your GP is quite right, although he or she probably should have added serious disability.

Elainebenes please don't put words in mine, or my GP's mouth. She quite clearly stated, with a teary eye, that my child would die if she wasn't vaccinated. (And this was a long time before the current whooping cough outbreak.) My GP was dreadfully misinformed about vaccine risks and wasn't even aware of the information printed on the vaccine manufacturers' leaflets.

Thank you all for your replies.

Clumsasaurus- Thank you for the link...just the kind of thing I was wanting.

Thank goodness we don't live in a country in which services are withheld for parental choice.

If she really said that, worldgonecrazy, then I sincerely hope you changed GPs. I certainly wouldn't stay with one who couldn't differentiate between risk and certainty whatever his or her thoughts on vaccinations.

lou4791

I note your comment re: parental choice.

On what basis did you make your choice?
Certainly not medical opinion by the sound of it.

Your choice risks other children - if you're happy with that - don't expect others to be, and expect to be condemned for it. Correctly.

How about all the adults in the country who have never bothered to update their vaccinations / check their immunity? Like me, for example.

Tabitha8
How about all the adults in the country who have never bothered to update their vaccinations / check their immunity? Like me, for example.

Irresponsible sods, but then you don't mix so closely with young children.

Err, you wouldn't be suggesting that as an excuse for the OP's apparently shiftless behaviour, would you?

"Your choice risks other children"

I'm a vaccinator and I'm irritated by this lazy scare-mongering. I'm guessing vaccines must be riskier for your child OP if she's in poor health and had them delayed on medical advice.l I don't know what you should do as I'm not family with vaccine schedule but I wouldn't be harangued into any decision by statements like that. The people who make them won't be around to pick up the pieces if anything goes round. The decision needs to be yours.

Ok having said that I know not much, I would be more concerned to do the late infant vaccine first and put off the measles for a bit.

Family? familiar!
Round? Wrong!

op, my kids vaccinations were all a bit out of synch and in the wrong order as we were overseas and had some here and some there. Each time the gp nurse worked out what they needed and then spaced them out.

With the early vaccinations they are getting DTP, and that requires 3 boosters to get up to full immunity. But at least one of the others thye said don't bother with both as long as thye had one. So you need to go and talk to your gP practice nurse

Lou My DD was delayed a lot longer for all her vaccinations and we spaced them as you would a baby ie waited the length of time that a baby would wait. The nurse/ Dr will know the spacing needed. My DD had all single vacs as well so was even more complicated to a degree but the Dr was happy to follow guidelines that are normal for a baby and give the vacs tbh he seemed happy we were actively vaccinating her in spite for her complicated medical history and a history of bad reactions in the family.

Brycie
I said "Your choice risks other children"

You said:
I'm a vaccinator and I'm irritated by this lazy scare-mongering.

As a health worker, I am surprised by your view. What does your professional body think of that? Unless you mean you are a parent who has had their child appropriately vaccinated...

Do you aver that that declining vaccinations as the OP intended does not compromise immunity?