Whooping cough vaccine -- big problems

[sarah1942]

I'm trying to help my soon-to-give-birth daughter come to a decision about the whooping cough vaccine.
Her half sister, Lindsay, was severely brain damaged following the wcv 50 years ago. (there is a collossal age gap between them). Lindsay had convulsions and petechiae all over her body following the first vaccination. When she had the second, she was well, had no viruses, but the same thing happened afterwards-- convulsions and all-over petechiae (not sure if this is how it's spelt). When she was four years old it became apparent that something was very vey wrong and later compensation was paid to her parents for her.
My own daughter, Lindsay's half sister, has consulted doctors and a consultant but they are all of the opinion that the vaccine today is safer than it was 50 years ago BUT they can't guarantee her baby won't be affected. At first she was intending keeping people away from the baby unless they had had a wc booster and that included me. But doctors wont vaccinate adults. Only pregnant mums and babies. Also she told me yesterday that babies are now given ALL the vaccines in one go. Is this true? She obviously can't withhold all of them. She's just unable to switch off from this. Time is running out. She says she just wishes she could carry on protecting the baby by keeping him/her in her tummy but in July that will no longer be possible. She doesn't trust the doctors as they all seem to be pushing for the vaccine regardless. So I'm just trying to help by asking on here "What would YOU do?"

Just wait until you see him you'll adore him even more! Little boys are the best not that I'm biased

I don't really have any words of wisdom really but just wanted to sympathise with the situation you are in as I have been through it myself.

My sister was left permanently brain damaged following WC vaccination. I was vaccinated but had WC twice as a child.

As a young adult I was told I must never vaccinate any children I subsequently had as 'we don't know exactly what went wrong with your sister'. Plus certain vaccines were contraindicated if there was family history of adverse reaction or seizures.

Fast forward to when I did have my DCs and the advice was all changed and I was told there was no risk, even told that perhaps my parents had imagined the whole thing and that my sister was born 'like that' and they just didn't notice. .

Anyway, my DCs are unvaccinated, a decision that was not taken lightly.

Our GP has been lovely and understanding.

I did breastfeed my DCs for an extended time in the hope that that would offer them a little protection. I also just made sure that I knew what symptoms, especially early symptoms to look out for. They haven't had any illnesses other than chickenpox and i haven't restricted their interactions in anyway.

It's still hard but I just can't shift the fear I have. It would kill me if history repeated itself and equally it would kill me if they became damaged by vaccine preventable diseases.

I just hope. They are now 5 and 10 so they've outgrown the need for most vaccinations but their being unvaccinated is temporary. My eldest will be vaccinated sometime in the next 18 months.

Good luck.

Deux I think there's much more of an emphasis now (since the MMR scandal) on not allowing the questioning of any vaccines, to mention any vaccine damage, to suggest there can ever be a problem. As soon as any patient or parent says anything they are distraught, looking for something to blame, anti-vaxxxxx, irrational, hysterical. As soon as a doctor says anything they're maverick and suspect, despite any reputation they may have had in the past. Hence doctors murmur quietly to mums that it's perhaps best not to vaccinate certain siblings or children but will never acknowledge anything publicly. Researchers keep quiet - or, more likely - won't even touch the subject - because of what happened to Wakefield. Even specialists fear connecting gut disease with children with AS disorders leading to parents having to seek treatment out of the country. Parents who "do the right thing" and get their children vaccinated are instantly labelled "hysterical anti vaxxers" if something goes wrong. The mainstream media won't touch the subject, anyone who does raise it is labeled "well known anti-vaxxer". There's been a very effective silencing among the establishment, medical, media and government circles, about vaccine damage since Andrew Wakefield.

Oh and I forgot - if you believe your child was injured by a vaccine you're quite likely to be accused of believing the moon landings weren't real because you are, of course, a paranoid conspiracy theorist.