To other parents of unvaccinated children in UK - preschool/school question

[puddymuddles]

Our two children have not received any vaccinations and I wondered if I should tell DD1s pre school this as she is due to start in September. They have not asked and it is not on any of the forms I have filled in. Are any vaccinations actually done on the premises at pre school or school? I remember when I was at school some vaccinations were done at school rather than in GPs surgery. Advice from others in same position would be helpful.

My children received their vaccinations at the GP. Dd is now 14 and is due further vaccinations which get done at school and she had the HPV jags last year too at school.

Before her jags last year (done because of my history with HPV) she'd never had any done at school and ds has had none at school and will be 14 when he gets whatever they get in 3rd year.

My DD had HPV and a booster done at secondary school. They do send a letter and consent form to parents, so you shouldn't worry that your child will be vaccinated without your consent.

Just remembered there was a kid at pre school undergoing treatment for cancer so they did encourage other parents to have their kids vaccinated because of the risk to him and not bring them if they had been exposed to chickenpox etc. In no way was it compulsory or judgey though.

I think that morally you should inform them - you don't know the medical history of the other children there. For example, there may be a little one who cannot have vaccinations for genuine medical reasons and you are potentially putting that child at risk.

FlipFlop how do you know the OP's reasons are not 'genuine'?

Where does op state that her children don't have a genuine medical reason not to have had the jabs?

X post

It's kind to tell the preschool. We have a child at ours who is taking steroids and can't be vaccinated. He is very vulnerable to some of the childhood diseases.

They have the HPV jabs at school - a consent form IS sent home - but it is purely a courtesy- the choice whether to have the jab or not is ultimately down to the child - as they say on the leaflet:

"The decision to have the vaccine is legally your daughter's, as long as she understands the issues in giving consent. Discuss this with your daughter, the doctor or nurse to get more information."

"The decision to have the vaccine is legally your daughter's, as long as she understands the issues in giving consent Discuss this with your daughter, the doctor or nurse to get more information."

Most school immunisation clinics do not have the time to establish Fraser competence (which would take a proper consultation including whether the child knows their medical history). An HCP who gave any treatment without making a proper written record of why they thought Fraser competency standards have been met would be in a very exposed medico-legal position.

This is however a distant prospect for OP, as her DD1 is only just beginning pre-school. And I don't think any jabs are organised via settings at that age (not least because it is non-statutory and not a terribly effective way of reaching a population).

Thank you everyone and glad vaccines no longer done at school (except the cervical cancer jab).

My DH has a relative who was damaged by a vaccine and I had a very bad reaction to a vaccine as a baby, but luckily I suffered no lasting damage. Vaccine damage is more common than people think. A friend was ill in bed for 3 weeks after a flu jab and my neighbours little girl developed a dangerous nut allergy after having MMR jab. She was fine with nut products before that.

I think you have a duty to tell them tbh most schools will assume your kids have had their vaccinations. If they know they can take precautions and work with you if they have a vulnerable kid who really can't be around disease for fear of death and whatnot.

What would you want them to do with the information?

No vaccinations are given on site and they couldn't treat a child any differently based on their vaccination history.

Most pre-schools would put up a sign if a particular infectious disease or parasite is 'doing the rounds'.

my husband ran a 40 degree fever for 4 nights after a cancelled flu shot not wanting to start an argument or anything

I would tell them. There are children who cannot be vaccinated and can be incredibly vulnerable if exposed to measles etc (although measles can be fatal for even a healthy child).

If a setting is told that a child is un-vaccinated what would you expect them to do differently? They can't disclose medical information about one child to the parents of another child. Yes, there may be children who are more vulnerable if exposed to particular illnesses but the setting knowing who is and who isn't vaccinated won't help.

Personally if my child was immunosurpressed and another child in her nursery was unvaccinated I'd want to know. The same as when I was living in the middle of a measles outbreak with a 4 month old baby we avoided (as best we could) settings with lots of unknown children in them. And then I was amazingly grateful that when she was 8mo the local policy changed and I was able to get her vaccinated before she started nursery. Some people aren't lucky enough to have that choice unfortunately.

There are two children undergoing chemotherapy for leukaemia in ds2's preschool (I know because the parents told me). Must be terrifying for the parents, on top of the enormous stress and strain of the illness and treatment, to to also have to worry about children who might be carrying measles or whooping cough or other illnesses commonly vaccinated against.

OddBoots thanks, what you say makes sense. The pre school would likely put a sign up and let parents know if a disease were doing the rounds. Children with weakened immune systems could just as likely catch something from a vaccinated child as no vaccine is 100% effective. In fact my children have been remarkably healthy, thank God. If I ever thought they had anything to be concerned about I would definitely keep them at home in any case.

I wouldn't tell the pre school if they haven't specifically asked. Why open a can of worms over something like that. It's not mandatory, you have done nothing wrong. If there are children who haven't been vaccinated and can't be and can't be exposed to disease then it is up to these parents to look out for the child, to ask questions, to keep their child at home if necessary. It's not up to you to go anticipating situations that might not be there.

I think this is one where you should tell out of kindness. If a parent is worried about unvaccinated children, while a preschool can't say "so and so isn't vaccinated!" they can say "we do have some children who have not had vaccinations" so the parent can make an informed decision to go elsewhere. I don't think it would open a can of worms because what exactly will a preschool do apart from take the information on board? Parents can't ask questions to keep their child safe if the answers aren't there.

I'd really want to know as another parent to be honest. I've avoided some home-schooling /alternative groups I would otherwise have been at home in for this reason.

I didn't want my second baby to nearly die of whooping cough like the first (before the new vaccines)

"Thank you everyone and glad vaccines no longer done at school (except the cervical cancer jab)."

And the year 9 DTP and Men C boosters.

DD is needle phobic so I didn't consent for her to have the jabs at school. She had them at the clinic instead.

FYI this is the vaccination schedule

Neither of mine have been vaccinated. Dd is now 11 and I have never even thought to mention it to any of her schools. I have gone with the idea that most children are vaccinated so the chances are she / they will be protected by the "herd" and she will be therefore less likely to pass anything about anyway.

Ds is 2 and I won't be mentioning it to nursery etc either.

I have an immune suppressant illness myself and severe allergies in the family but I would hope that the fact most people are able to vaccinate means slowly more and more of the diseases are becoming less harmful and less common.

Less harmful? Jesus christ!

If I had to think about keeping my kid alive more than the average parent I would want to know so I could remove them from the school.