should I vaccinate my child or not?

[GalaxyDefender2012]

I am currently 17+2 weeks pregant so I have a little while before I decide. But it's something me and my partner have argued about on numerous occasions. To this date I have never had any vaccinations whatsoever. Despite no one believing me throughout my whole life I haven't. I had the vitamin K shot when I was born but that was it. Never anything more. That's just how my mum brought me and my siblings up as her mother had brought her and her siblings up. And I think her mother before that. My partner on the other hand has had most of his childhood vaccinations just like all of his siblings and all the other children in his family. I would have liked to have carried on the no vaccination tradition if you like. But he strongly wants our child to have them all. And seeing as it is both of our choices it's a subject that we've rowed about in the past. Can anyone let me know their views on whether vaccinations should be administered of not?

I had my vaccines during pregnancy and my kids have had all theirs to date.

I do believe it's selfish, if there's not medical reason not to, not to vaccinate your child. I couldn't live with myself if someone was made ill by a poorly informed decision.

Please vaccinate your child, not just for their benefit but everyone else's. there's certain diseases on the rise because of people choosing not to vaccinate and it just takes one

Thank you, Flowery. I am one of those people at risk from selfish non-vaxxers. Totally accept tiny minority's position.

luna. "Unknown substances" sorry my terminology was a bit off there.

I know it's not exactly unknown (I don't understand the science behind it) but I trust in the vaccination system. If it's been tested and the risks are low. I say go for it.

How many times do you have to have the whooping cough vaccine to make you immune to whooping cough.

"Because people are rejecting vaccinations things like whooping cough measles and Scarlett fever are becoming more prevalent."

Scarlet fever? There's no vaccine for scarlet fever.

Vaccine Coverage for WC is actually quite high. The reason for the outbreaks is that immunity from the aP vaccine doesn't last as long. It has fewer side effects than the whole cell vaccine had. Some studies have shown that immunity to the aPvaccine can start to wane in as little as 12 months. So there are lots of non immune older children and adults wandering around.

Public Service Announcement.

Bumbleymummy is an anti vaxxer.

Only you and your partner can decide so at some point you will both have to come to a decision or a compromise that suits you both. Whatever you decide do it for you as a family and your child, don't worry about the children (or adults) who can't be immunised and depend on every other child being vaccinated to protect them because if your child ends up with vaccine damage (not saying they will but nothing is 100% safe in life) you will be on your own and the parents of the children who needed to be protected by someone else having the vaccine will NOT be there to help you when you have a vaccine damaged child.

Lol. Bert, you've been carrying around that chip on your shoulder for a few years now. You're wrong. Move on. :)

I just like people to know what they are dealing with. You're much cleverer than most, so less obvious.

Bumbleymummy is an anti vaxxer

And how! But always claims not to be, while jumping onto every vax thread to "helpfully point out" things to convince people not to vaccinate.....

I understand what you're saying about 'bad reactions', but if this were to happen, doctors would work to fix that. The diseases are far more dangerous than the vaccinations. Vaccinating your daughter would not only protect her, but other children she meets. I know that I would feel dreadful if I hadn't vaccinated my child, and they did end up getting the disease, or if another child caught it from my child. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. I think it's a no-brainer to be completely honest with you, but I'm sorry about the way the netmums have treated you, it can feel like an attack but they are jst trying to help x

Already posted before but posting again

Pen and Teller

You must vaccinate. Don't be those parents who everybody absolutely hates. And don't put your child and all their friends at risk of serious ill health. FGS.

My dd came out is a hideous rash. Two GPs thought she might have measles. DD hadn't had her jabs at that point because she was too young. Believe me, googling measles when you think your child might actually have it is not a happy experience.

I would vaccinate my dcs against any horrible diseases I possible could.

bumblymummy again I'm obviously misinformed. I know Scarlett fever is on the rise again and assumed there was a childhood vaccine for it. My bad.

Obviously this is a decision that your and your dp need to make between yourselves, and I understand your anxiety. It's way more difficult to weigh up the risks and benefits of vaccination than say Calpol because you're dealing with a theoretical problem rather than an actual one in front of you, and so the argument for doing nothing is much stronger.

Here's my take, fwiw: there are risks to vaccinating and risks to not vaccinating, and these will to an extent depend on your personal circumstances. If there is a strong history of reactions to vaccines or other immune problems in your family I'd be more cautious about vaccinating. Remember that it's not an all or nothing thing (the whole schedule or nothing), and there are plenty of people who vaccinate selectively and / or on a spread out schedule to make it easier on the child while still giving them the protection. I also think that some are more necessary than others: for instance whooping cough is relatively prevalent and can be dangerous for young babies so I would seriously think about making the 5 in 1 a high priority. (It's absolutely true that immunity to this wanes very quickly and that most older children and adults are susceptible to catching this and passing it on, which I think makes it important for the baby to have the vaccine.) Conversely the evidence behind the benefit of the Rotavirus vaccine for instance is rather flimsy, especially if you breast feed, and I personally opted out of this one.

In general, the risks of serious adverse reactions to most vaccines are very low, and I would say are worth taking to protect against the targeted diseases. Personally though I'm an advocate of a spread out schedule to minimise the risks of simultaneous administration (there a whole field of research into the non specific effects of vaccines which is in large part ignored by the committees making the decisions, but makes for interesting reading.)

Easy mistake Em :) It's one of the few that there isn't a vaccine for.

What an uneducated comment to make!

I feel a lot of you need to do some serious detailed research into why you shouldn’t be vaccinating!
There is a lot of research out there suggesting that unvaccinated children have a lower mortality rate than vaccinated children.
You have already exposed your child to the illness by vaccinating. Your child’s body has already attacked this illness so should they get this illness their body won’t fight as hard to attack the illness!
You say that unvaccinated children infect your vaccinated children but why are you all so worried your children are vaccinated so they are protected right?????

Sasel

I would love for you to post some links so the detailed research that supports that. I'd be really interested in reading them.

Sasel - show us your research.
And, by the way, I'm immunocompromised. I'm too old to have had standard MMR. I've never had measles. If I get measles, it could kill me. No herd immunity in my area because of idiotic non-vaxxers.
Research that.

Can't think of any reason not to vaccinate as benefits hugely outweigh risks, though of course your body, your choice.
Reasons to vaccinate include reducing the risk of serious illness (& even death) to you & your baby. Also, with contagious illnesses) reducing the likelihood of you & baby being 'carriers' & spreading flu / whooping cough etc among the general population, sone of whom may be vulnerable (old, young, HIV positive, otherwise compromised immune system). An additional benefit of the above reasons is that illness is a cost to the nhs / taxpayer - vaccinations are much cheaper than treating serious illness. My SIL ended up signed off work for 4 months following flu complications & spent a week in a specialist neurology hospital having a plasma transfusion. This would have cost a phenomenal amount & could have been prevented. Luckily her employer paid her for the whole period but not everyone is so lucky.
I'm my local hospital there have been 3 cases of whooping cough in the last year. They all survived thankfully but also had to spend time in intensive care.
The reasons for avoiding certain vaccinations have been largely discredited over the last few decades so what may have been a reason when you were a child could no longer be the case. You could ask yourself whether you ancestors would have made the same decision now, given the new information available. I expect they were doing what they felt was best for them & their children (rather than following tradition) which is I'm sure what you want to do too.