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Pilot scheme at our school for flu vaccine, is it live?

42 replies

quickchat · 01/10/2013 23:19

The school my DS attends has started a pilot scheme to give all children a flu vaccine (sprayed up the nose). As usual most parents whom im sure do not lie awake at night worrying if their child will get a cold or flu are rushing head on to get it done Hmm.

Im wondering if this will cause big increases in flu itself as I know when my parents get their yearly flu jab they always end up ill with flu!!

I love when I ask the parents keen to get the flu vaccine for their child if they have looked into the contents of the vaccine (done very matter of fact, non confrontational) they look at me like I've just dropped my pants and had a wee at school drop off.

"Why on earth would I do that" their face tells me!

OP posts:
sweetiepie1979 · 02/10/2013 04:48

We'll why don't youngest US all the ingredients.. And what it means.

sweetiepie1979 · 02/10/2013 05:34

I mean why dont you tell us the ingredients

Sunnysummer · 02/10/2013 06:44

It's physically impossible to get the flu from the flu vaccine, adult or child. It is a dead vaccine.

It's a common misconception when people get a cold after the vaccine to attribute it to the jab, but in fact they are not connected - and often people also confuse a serious cold with the flu. A serious cold is very nasty but not life threatening, whereas the flu is extremely severe and can lead to pneumonia and hospitalisation in vulnerable groups like the elderly or pregnant. As a rule of thumb, they usually say that anyone who is able to get to a doctor to check if they have the flu, does not in fact have the flu!

Before you share your 'expertise' with parents at the school gate, please do make sure you are also up to date with the latest information. Children are common spreaders of illness, which is why they are looking at vaccinating them - people spreading any incorrect information could be risking the lives of these kids' grandparents or pregnant mums.

CPtart · 02/10/2013 06:57

Fluenz, the nasal spray is actually a live vaccine.

CPtart · 02/10/2013 06:59

....I should add, it still can't give you flu, but shouldn't be given to any child who has close contact with a severely immunocompromised person.

AuntieStella · 02/10/2013 07:16

The flu jab her parents had would have contained deactivated strains only, though. So they would not have caught the flu (a 2-3 weeks, wipe you off your feet illness) from it.

What parts of fluenz concern you, OP?

CatherinaJTV · 02/10/2013 07:20

what SunnySummer says (also, I am envious - I WANT the Fluenz for my son!)

arkestra · 02/10/2013 07:22

I love when I ask the parents keen to get the flu vaccine for their child if they have looked into the contents of the vaccine (done very matter of fact, non confrontational) they look at me like I've just dropped my pants and had a wee at school drop off.

"Why on earth would I do that" their face tells me!

Or perhaps "Why are you asking that without being specific about where your concerns lie?" Eg they don't know if you're going to talk about live vaccines, egg cultures, or a more general anti-vaccine stance that they may not wish to get involved debating with you...

EMA Fluenz Page is a good general starting point for discussing contents etc.

arkestra · 02/10/2013 07:45

Patient Info Leaflet too

sweetiepie1979 · 02/10/2013 09:14

I'd look at you oddly too OP and expect you are about to give me a rather pretentious lecture without thinking for a second what the health situation is on my house and with my child..

sweetiepie1979 · 02/10/2013 09:22

CPtart where did you read that the spray shouldn't be given to children in close proximity to someone with a weak immune system. That could be a problem and I hadn't realised that was the case.....

LifeofPo · 02/10/2013 09:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MistyB · 02/10/2013 09:39

More information on here.

Interesting points.

Point 4.4
Vaccine recipients should be informed that FLUENZ is an attenuated live virus vaccine and has the potential for transmission to immunocompromised contacts. ....... for 1-2 weeks following vaccination.

Also in this section,
Medical treatment and supervision should be available in case of an anaphylactic event.

should not be administered to children with severe asthma or active wheezing

increase in hospitalisation in children under 12 months (vaccine is not advised for under 24 months)
increase in rate of wheezing in children between 12 -24 months.

quickchat · 02/10/2013 09:45

Sigh!

Flu jab's are a brilliant idea for people who may be badly effected by flu.

Do we really have to have our children add to their 36 vaccines?

I have looked into the ingredients. I was checking for the usual culprits like formaldehyde etc. Since the effects of injecting these carcinogenic and toxic materials en mass in vaccines have never been tested fully it makes me somewhat suspicious.

I was asking if it was live as it was not clear. There are quite a few different types of flu vaccine.

I hide my suspicion of vaccines (caused by my cousin being paralysed from the neck down, blind then eventually dying from a rubella vaccine at 16, then actually looking into them following that) from parents as I know that it's taboo.
They were all talking about it and I asked as if I was genuinely asking what the ingredients were even though I knew. They didn't get annoyed, they just didn't see the relevance.

Thanks though, that was so helpful!!

OP posts:
sweetiepie1979 · 02/10/2013 09:47

CPtart I've just read a bit about what you said. I see. What about someone with a weak immune system due to age and arthritis.? Does anybody know about that?

Sirzy · 02/10/2013 09:50

should not be administered to children with severe asthma or active wheezing

I don't know about the schools scheme but it would seem for 2-3 year olds this has not been promoted at all. My severely asthmatic 3 year old got a letter inviting him to have the nasal spray - thankfully the asthma nurse realised before it was given it would be an issue and he has his proper jab next week instead.

quickchat · 02/10/2013 09:50

Thanks mistyb, I just spotted your post.

Scary. I feel for the kids and I worry about the effects this could potentially have in the future.

I know people die from flu. I also know people die from vaccines.
It's a pity we have to put these healthy children at a potential risk. The immune system was doing a pretty good job up to now.

OP posts:
arkestra · 02/10/2013 11:26

Good link mistyb - better than mine

I think the immunocompromised bit may refer to quite severe cases as in the passage following on from your quote? But obviously a good idea to consult a doctor in the case of any doubt.

Vaccine recipients should attempt to avoid, whenever possible, close association with severely immunocompromised individuals (e.g. bone marrow transplant recipients requiring isolation) for 1-2 weeks following vaccination. Peak incidence of vaccine virus recovery occurred 2-3 days post-vaccination in clinical studies. In circumstances where contact with severely immunocompromised individuals is unavoidable, the potential risk of transmission of the influenza vaccine virus should be weighed against the risk of acquiring and transmitting wild-type influenza virus.

Sunnysummer · 02/10/2013 11:29

The immune system was doing a pretty good job up until now? Really?

It wasn't the immune system that conquered smallpox, or made death from whooping cough, crippling from polio or male infertility from mumps almost unheard of in developed countries, it was vaccination programmes. The recent measles outbreak was a reminder of just how dangerous and contagious these illnesses can be without protection in place.

CPTart, thank you for correcting me on the fluenz live vaccine!

CPtart · 02/10/2013 14:18

Sweetie - Anyone with a weak immune system due to age and arthritis would be getting the inactivated jab.

As a practice nurse I've been at work jabbing and spraying all morning. Too many changes with the immunisation schedule this year in a very short space of time. Keep reading and re-reading the info, very confusing for healthcare professionals let alone parents to keep up to speed with it all!

Sidge · 02/10/2013 14:31

It's a live vaccine - Fluenz. All 2 and 3 year olds are eligible and should be called in by your GP surgery. Your 3 year old may be offered it when they attend for their preschool boosters.

Can't be given to children on step 4 asthma treatment, and severely immunocompromised tends to refer to people undergoing chemo, radiotherapy, on high doses of steroids or immune suppressant drugs, who have HIV etc. It doesn't necessarily mean people who are just old, or a bit weak and frail. Adults aren't going to be offered Fluenz themselves, they will be offered the inactivated flu vaccine.

Flu jabs can't give you flu (not even live ones) but they can give you an immune response such as a temperature, aches, feeling off colour. Also there can be coincidental viral illnesses - whilst your immune system is busy dealing with the vaccine another virus can sneak in.

arkestra · 02/10/2013 15:36

Flu jabs can't give you flu (not even live ones) but they can give you an immune response such as a temperature, aches, feeling off colour.

People might be wondering how that works. From section 5.1 in mistyb's link:

The influenza virus strains in FLUENZ are (a) cold-adapted (ca); (b) temperature-sensitive (ts); and (c) attenuated (att). As a result, they replicate in the nasopharynx and induce protective immunity

Eg the idea is that the virus causes only mild infection, and only at the cooler temperatures found within the nose. So it's "live" but not with the full potential of a wild flu virus.

sashh · 03/10/2013 09:17

I know people die from flu. I also know people die from vaccines.
It's a pity we have to put these healthy children at a potential risk. The immune system was doing a pretty good job up to now.

Er.............. how was it doing a good job? If people die from flu then their immune system isn't doing a good job is it?

And those healthy children ARE at a potential risk, all the time.

quickchat · 03/10/2013 20:56

sashh People aren't dying from flu because we are all walking about with our inadequate immune systems relying only on vaccines to keep us alive!! Smile.

Yes if someone is at high risk of dying from virus and flu then by all means, the vaccines could be of great benefit to them.

I notice you to ignore the fact i've lost my cousin to vaccine damage and only mention deaths from flu.
Who was the last family member you lost to flu? Do deaths from vaccines deserve only a shrug?

I don't know about anyone else but I can't remember the last time I lay in bed worrying about what virus's my children might catch or if chicken pox will kill them. Bring out a vaccine and we are all trampling each other to get them in case our child dies.

Leave them to the children at risk and leave otherwise healthy children to build a healthy immune system.

sunnysummer If this was QI with Stephen Fry then a buzzer would have sounded the minute you hailed the smallpox vaccine as successful!

It was Edward Jenner who first came up with vaccine. After it was tested on a relatively small number of people it became compulsory in the mid 1800's for all children or the parents were heavily fined. Uptake was good!

They quickly discovered that Jenner was wrong and it did not give life long protection and in fact around 8 vaccinations were needed.

Even after that there was outbreaks in different parts of the country and the biggest percentage of victims had been vaccinated.

The vaccines then were dirty and it was vaccine which first spread syphilis across Europe.

Born were the first anti-vaccine nuts like me Grin! There was a large protest and eventually a new law made vaccines by choice (hallelujah).

Uptake with vaccine dropped dramatically but so did cases of small pox strangely, as did cases of measles and scarlet fever which there was no vaccine for at this point.

There then came a point where there was more deaths from vaccine than small pox.

It was the late 19th century that saw very few cases of small pox but very low uptake of the vaccine!

In the 60's there was around 30 deaths from small pox vaccine and one death from actual small pox.

The government then banned small pox vaccine in the 70's due to it being of greater threat than small pox.

Hey, just a thought, maybe people stopped dying like flies to all of these diseases when we stopped throwing our poo down the street and we could afford to eat healthier? Just saying.....

Deaths from Measles and whooping cough declined dramatically in the 19th century before the vaccine became available.

Diseases come and go and the severity of them changes from mild to severe then back again. Polio was once very mild. It depends on how we live, what we eat, hygiene etc and also the natural immune system.

If you went into the jungle and met a tribe who had never came across western civilisation with the common cold it would immediately kill them.

We are playing with fire with these flu vaccines and they have been making the same mistakes over and over again.

Vaccines could be wonderful things if they didn't insist on making money forcing en mass and used them carefully.

My final point. How come when ever there is an outbreak they are not mentioning the fact that most of the people effected have been vaccinated?

OP posts:
bumbleymummy · 03/10/2013 21:01

"The immune system was doing a pretty good job up until now? Really?"

Well, yes, otherwise we wouldn't be here at all, would we? No one is saying it is perfect.