Declining 8 week vaccinations for my baby - experiences?

[Plasticpineapple]

I don't want this to be about whether you should or shouldn't vaccinate your baby. I have chosen not to and I'm looking for experiences from others who have done the same. What did you say? What did the doctor say? Did you discuss vaccination once the child was older or flat out decline all vaccines?

It will be interesting to see if there is a big rise in cases. There was one known case of wild polio in Syria in 2014, and 2 in neighbouring Iraq. It will probably be difficult to get figures given the situation.

However, it should be a comfort that, despite the large amount of people movement due to refugees and economic migrants from the countries where polio is still regarded as endemic (Afghanistan and Pakistan), there have been no cases reported in the UK since 2000.

"Ant-vaxxers don't really want their dc to go through all these childhood diseases do they? Not really."

They do, you know!

Melanie's Marvelous Measles

Hak, what a vile book :( those poor children.

Reviews are heartening though.

Jeez. No wonder 271 people one-starred it.

Deirdre's Delightful Diptheria anyone?

Tom's Terrific Tetanus?

The first 5 star review is sarcastic too

That book is unbelievable!

The reviews are entertaining though!

My parents are anti vaxxers (not entirely, just the ones they thought were unnecessary)
I got mumps when pregnant and had a miscarriage. Despite this my dad still looked shocked when I said of course DS had mmr.

Well at least with the state of NHS services as they are, all the 'antivac I don't want things put in my child' posters will be freeing up GP and hospital resources for the rest of us!
As obviously when you and your children have an accident or need an operation you'll just keep that at home so no one can lay a hand in them or give them something harmful.
It's a blessing in disguise for overstretched resources!

love those reviews

sanfairyanne,

"does immunity to mumps wane?"

Yes, it does. Yes, I know that the 'booster' is to catch those who are not immune from the first vaccine.

Actually Alyosha, I've hardly been on vaccination threads for several months. No, I'm not anti-vaccine. It should be pretty obvious if you read my posts. I do dislike the misinformation that surrounds vaccines and the diseases though and no, I don't think that all vaccines are necessary at the age that they are given.

"Why isn't the consensus of the scientific community enough to reassure you that vaccines have no link to autism, that vaccines are generally safe (although very few have bad reactions - but so few that the benefit far outweighs the risk) and that vaccines have been key in reducing deaths and disability in children and adults?"

Why are you asking me this? Where have I said that vaccines aren't generally safe? As for benefit outweighing risk - it depends on the individual.

sanfairyanne re mumps/measles and rubella "they were not that common". What do you class as common? There were still several hundred thousand cases of measles a year in the 1970s. There aren't any figures for mumps because it wasn't a notifiable illness. Certainly anyone I knew growing up had all three.

Alyosha, I was actually finding the questioning thing interesting for another reason.

ie. The PHA say that there is no firm evidence that mumps causes sterility BUT sans' friend's sterility was caused by mumps therefore people are willing to accept that there is some evidence for it so it must be a possibility but maybe it's just a rare complication.

However, if anyone says "There is no firm evidence that MMR triggers autism." Most of you would agree with that and not question it at all. No possible way that MMR can ever cause autism - that's the official line. There is no firm evidence. Some posters on this thread/others would give their experiences which suggest that their child's regression was triggered by the MMR (and some courts have awarded damages to children who regressed after the MMR) BUT still people would say -nope, no way, not enough evidence to suggest anything etc.

I guess that's cognitive dissonance for you :)

Mildred, so are people who don't vaccinate the flu anti-vax then? Do you think it should also be made compulsory? Even though it isn't actually that effective (particularly this year!)

"Well in countries that don't have Measles vaccination programmes, Measles hasn't got any weaker, and hundreds of thousands of children die. "

And the only difference between those countries and this one is the fact that they don't have a vaccine program? Nothing at all to do with the malnutrition that makes them more vulnerable and their limited access to substandard health care?

Girl, if you're really concerned about it you should check their immunity. The vaccine isn't as effective as thought. ~65% iirc - I would have to look it up.

Hakluyt - actually many people recognise that eradication of smallpox wasn't only due to the vaccine. It was a combination of factors. It makes interesting reading if you're actually interested.

i guess we can only go by the people we know. hardly anyone i know had either mumps or german measles as a child. i am 40. my parents didnt have mumps either. it was never like chickenpox, which everyone i know has had. perhaps we lived in a strange area

interesting about mumps immunity waning. i will get my kids re-vaxxed as older teens. that is the only problem with eg cpx vax - needing booster shots

This is a zombie thread guys

FWIW, however, you're stupid if you don't vaccinate your kids.

HTH.

sanfairyanne - rubella is usually very mild and over a third of cases of mumps are asymptomatic so you/your parents may have had them without realising. :)

In fact bumbley - many posters are downright rude when someone comes on and says that their child was damaged by vaccines: it's coincidence, or they say their child was damaged, implying that those parents are lying. And yet, these parents are living now with those children on a day to day basis.

However if another poster comes on and says that a relative from a previous generation became deaf in one ear after measles, or had their sight weakened, that is taken as being absolutely so. Never dismissed as a coincidence or a result of a secondary infection which today could be avoided by prompt treatment with antibiotics.

Very true LaVolcan.

I am old enough to remember the days before many of the things children are vaccinated against these days. I had measles and it was not funny, or a mild illness. My cousin had polio and has always worn calipers and walked with sticks, she is now in a wheelchair. Those of you choosing not to vaccinate are endangering the health of the children who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons and are extremely selfish. The autism theory has been completely disproved. I sincerely hope your children never fall victim to any of these illnesses.

It's not the usual zombie thread zombiesheep. Ok it started in mid-2014 but there's been a trickle of responses ever since spread out over the months and it has stepped up a gear in recent weeks.

On the mumps issue, I just want to reiterate that I'm not an expert and I was simply passing on the experience of a close friend with regards to mumps. If it did indeed, as he has been advised, cause his infertility, then he is one of the very unfortunate but thankfully very small in number who have experienced that. However, there is more evidence for subfertility issues and hearing problems among other potential long-term impacts. I just won't take those risks or play the odds that my children won't experience anything more than a mild illness.

Also bumbleymummy you mentioned earlier about rubella and it being a mild childhood illness so what's the rationale for vaccinating. You do accept there is an argument for vaccinating to protect other groupings I hope? Particularly in the case of rubella where it can be devasting if caught in pregnancy.

Well, I think it makes sense to vaccinate against rubella if you are an adult female and are not immune, yes. I do not think it makes sense for a woman to rely on the immunity of others when she is capable of protecting herself.

I am old enough too bigoldbird. I knew one with calipers after getting polio but no others. Measles could be severe - but by no means always. I can remember scarlet fever and TB being talked about in hushed whispers, but even then in the 50s scarlet fever seemed to be becoming milder. Indeed my earliest memory is of my brother getting scarlet fever, not being very ill with it and my granny refusing to believe that the doctor had diagnosed it correctly because she had been in an isolation hospital for two weeks when she caught it.

But who has said they have chosen not to vaccinate?

I know more children now with autism than I ever did damaged by measles or polio. What causes their autism? No one really has much idea, it's a label for a range of conditions.

"In fact bumbley - many posters are downright rude when someone comes on and says that their child was damaged by vaccines: it's coincidence, or they say their child was damaged, implying that those parents are lying. And yet, these parents are living now with those children on a day to day basis."

Yes, they are living with their child on a day to day basis- how does that mean they know that their child was damaged by vaccines? Why should the anecdotal evidence of parents be sacrosanct? And this "implying that pqrents are lying" thing is the most nsidious silencing technique of all. Suggesting that they are mistaken is not accusing them of lying.

What about the case of a teenage or unplanned pregnancy bumbleymummy? If the baby is badly affected its just tough luck as the mother should have checked her immunity status regardless of not having antipated the pregnancy?

Haykult try reading the other thread which is current, where someone absolutely lays into Pagwatch, saying just those sorts of things. (The person responsible for the latest resurrection of this thread.)

If you get measles, note that soon after you have gone deaf in one ear, and therefore assume that the measles caused it, why is it not just as valid to assume that if take your child for a jab, and find that they immediately start screaming and regress over the next few weeks, that the jab didn't cause it?How does the first person know that measles caused the deafness, but the second person must assume that the jab didn't cause the adverse reaction?

Re the person asking just now about rubella - I couldn't see why they didn't continue with the policy of vaccinating girls against it at puberty as they used to. I would also like to see a public health campaign to advise women to check their rubella immunity status, if they think that they are likely to get pregnant. But I don't see that happening any time soon. Finding out that you are not immune when you are already pregnant is most definitely not the time to find out.

Hakluyt - I think it depends on how you are 'suggesting they are mistaken'. Vlad has given a good example of how not to do it on the other thread.

School - why is it everyone else's responsibility to protect her when she can protect herself? We can come up with all sorts of 'what if' scenarios - What if she goes on holiday to a country where they don't vaccinate and she picks it up? What if she's sitting next to someone on the bus who isn't immune? Do you really think that it is a reliable method? Or do you think girls who aren't immune could be vaccinated when they're 11/12?