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?

So...your family originate from times when "vaccinations deformed generations" but nobody else's did? Oh okay then 👌🏻

you idiots that think its okay to slate my entire family for their beliefs which originated from the times when vaccinations deformed generations.

Can you tell me more about these generations deformed by vaccines please, OP? Because I've never heard of that.

Your second cousin wouldn't have had the men b jab unless he's a baby as it's only been introduced recently.

You've not picked anything up from children because they've been vaccinated. So that means you aren't going to pick anything up as other people have vaccinated their children.

In the long run though I feel that whatever anyone says, it's not going to make any difference. Just please be sure to thank everyone else for ensuring your child is less likely to fall ill.

but my faith in that we will be all kept safe is actually stronger than my faith in some bozo with a syringe in a lab injecting mice?

You're a tit. Those "bozos" have saved millions of lives around the world wtf have you done?

You should be glad other people weren't as stupid as your family, because other people vaccinating their kids is what kept you safe fro serious childhood diseases.

I hope your partner has enough sense to vax his kid without telling you.

Op's partner must feel like he's banging his head against a brick wall!

If everyone had answered like silkybear did then there would be no issues here. It was the fact that instantly my whole family got put down for their past beliefs that is why i am undecided now!

It sounds like you're concerned about vaccines being dangerous? You are way more likely to be seriously ill with a vaccine-preventable disease than by a vaccine. It sounds like your family have been lucky so far but I wouldn't let yourself feel any comfort that you haven't yet experienced serious preventable illness, your child could be the first and you'd have had an opportunity to prevent it and wouldn't have. Vaccinate

It was the fact that instantly my whole family got put down for their past beliefs

It was their past actions they were put down for, not their beliefs.

Little story for you OP.

When my youngest DD was in nursery, there was a very heavy cold went around her group. All the children had this really distinctive cough and were off for a few days. DD2 caught it and was poorly for a week, before she bounced back and went back to nursery. I caught it and felt truly shit for a couple of days before it became a normal heavy cold. Then DD1 caught it. Turned out the cancer treatment she completed 6 months earlier had damaged her spleen. Also turned out that the "cold" was actually pneumo - one of the things children are now routinely vaccinated for as a baby.

The guilt, OP.

My tiny 6 year old lay in ICU in a coma, for a week, hooked up to machines, with almost 100 holes in her arms, hands, wrists, legs, feet and groin, from where the doctors tried to get a line into her. I had time to count those holes as I sat by her bedside, while the nurses pumped her tiny body full of drugs to try to keep her alive. It took her six months of pain and utter exhaustion to fully recover.

The guilt I feel at not recognising it sooner, not getting her hospital sooner, not protecting her better, has never left. But when I think about how I might feel if I had CHOSEN to leave her unprotected from that illness, if my actions and neglect had directly lead to her catching meningitis, I'm not sure I'd be able to live with myself.

But hey, your choice, OP. Family tradition.

TBF OP you just said you didn'yt want to vaccinate as you wanted to carry on the family tradition, and asked whether you should vaccinate or not.
You haven't put forward any real argument as to why you think you shouldn't apart from your family appearto have been lucky and not caught anything so far.

Most PP have just said that you should vaccinate - which is what you asked.

Personally I had my DCs vaccinated to protect them - not for the community benefit. If I was going to put my children through the process it was entirely for their benefit. A mother's duty is to protect their children as much as they are able (and honestly, once they are born, duty goes out the window - you would do anything to protect them).

No one has ever been 'deformed by vaccines', but they were certainly deformed by horrible illnesses like polio (which has now been almost totally eliminated thanks to a vaccine), and smallpox (which has been scoured from the face of the planet - again thanks to a vaccine).

Insulting the OP is not going to change her mind. The key to enlightenment is education. The OP was raised with ideas that are different to most of us on this thread. They are misguided ideas, but abusing her isn't going to make her change her mind. However, a reasoned discussion with her highly educated healthcare providers might help her to see the many benefits of vaccinating her DC. Please OP talk to your doctor and your MW about this. Talk to several doctors, if you feel you need to hear this information from a variety of sources. Yes, the human body is amazing and it can fight many illnesses and return the person to full health afterwards. However, with our increasingly global and mobile world it's a good idea to vaccinate as not all countries do and that 'herd immunity' that your family have clearly benefited from is under constant threat as people travel around the globe and mingle with those who may well not have had access to vaccines which keep us ALL safe.

You say that your three cousins were vaccinated but all get flu all the time? Personally, I'd rather have a child the gets the flu or sickness bugs than have a child that died from a preventable disease. It really was always as simple as that for me. The diseases that most vaccinations protect against are things that are a hell of a lot worse than a bout of flu or gastro, but we all have the luxury of forgetting this because we don't see t frequently anymore. You and your family who have been unvaccinated have benefitted from herd immunity. People that don't vaccinate that CAN vaccinate cause herd immunity to develop substantial weak points and stop it from protecting the people that actually need it.

Its a shame things have become a bit abusive on this thread, but OP, the overall message is that it seems your parents have become a bit confused by scare stories, or garbled retelling of facts. Have a look into this for yourself, is there really evidence of generations deformed by a vaccine? What vaccine? How were they deformed? I think your family mean well, and have been frightened by things they've heard, but the government wouldn't spend huge amounts of money on information and vaccination, if it caused more harm than good (which, even if they didn't care about people, would cost them a lot to treat).
Have a look into it, maybe talk to your GP and ask them to go through the levels of risk, from having, and not having, vaccinations?

Galaxy...I found that because my parents were dead against, I was very unsure whether to have them or not, and when I asked people for advice all I got was abuse like you are getting now. It made me want to say fuck the lot of you and remain unvaccinated. People are absolutely hysterical over it. But like I say I did my own research and decided to go for all of them in the end, apart from rotavirus because its unlikely to be life threatening in the western world and my BFing reduced the risks of it hugely. I researched each one individually, not on forums or anti vax sites but from the WHO, NHS and I downloaded the patient information sheet for each vaccine and read them all. I also think you need to bear in mind your partners feelings about it, the baby is part of you at the moment but he should get a fair hearing too as you both have to live with the consequences of whatever you decide, for or against. Good luck op, sorry you are getting such a hammering.

You have produced NO good reasons for not vaccinating. Your child could die of one of the diseases you're not vaccinating her against, and the chances of that happening are significantly higher that them dying as a result of the vaccine. And, if your child is lucky enough not to die of whatever disease they catch, they might pass it on to someone who CAN'T be vaccinated and cause then to die. It's as simple as that.

I honestly think that children who haven't been vaccinated should be denied a place in state schools, for the safety of others.

That happens in the US celtic in some states. It forces anti-vaxxers to home school.

GalaxyDefender2012 The fact that you and none of your family have had any complications from childhood diseases is really luck rather than good judgement.

There is no way of telling how many immunocompromised children or adults your family has infected with vaccine preventable diseases who have gone on to be extremely ill or worse.

The pros of vaccinating are mainly around the fact that your child will not die of vaccine preventable illness.

The cons are that there is a minute chance that your child will have an adverse reaction to a vaccine, e.g. an allergic reaction, like an allergic reaction to peanuts for example, which is treatable and curable.

Your baby is at greater risk in the car on the way to the doctors than he or she is from the vaccine they receive.

Please also consider getting yourself vaccinated for whooping cough during the third trimester as it will protect your baby for the 8 weeks until they are able to be vaccinated. Whooping cough is not a mild childhood disease and is extremely dangerous for infants.

Speak to your GP or practice nurse about your concerns - they will be able to set your fears to rest.

It made me want to say fuck the lot of you and remain unvaccinated

If people want to put their children in danger because some people told them the truth but were rude to them on the internet, they shouldn't have children.

Wow. Just saw the post where you were calling everyone rude cunts OP?

Aren't you charming!

There are lots of traditions in the world... For example, slavery, sending little boys up chimneys and down mines etc... Human beings decided these were a bad idea. Just because something is traditional doesn't mean it is a good idea.

In the end, no-one can force you to do anything. You may believe that no-one can change what life has in store for you and that is your belief - you are entitled and I would be 100% behind you if it didn't impact on the people around you.

People around you are entitled to not suffer for your belief.

If you had surgery, would you have an anaesthetic? If you are concerned about man made ingredients being injected into the body, get a look at the ingredients in anaesthetic. I also recommend that you look at how vaccines actually work as this may answer some questions you have around how you prevent a disease that isn't there.

This is a helpful link...

www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/pages/how-vaccines-work.aspx

Yes of course you should. You sound completely ignorant about the whole issue, particularly in referring to ground breaking scientists who have saved millions of lives as 'bozos'.

The only good thing is that at least your partner has his child's best interests at heart and seems willing to fight you on this. Hopefully once the baby is born he will take steps to ensure they get vaccinated, against your wishes if necessary.

It's the I'm alright, Jack attitude that really annoys me.

I have more than one friend with a child with a compromised immune system - it's awful enough without knowing that slowly but surely herd immunity is being eroded away by complete idiots.

Did the OP call us all rude cunts?! Blimey!

The reason you and your family have never suffered severe diseases is because you have benefitted from herd immunity in our society. In other words, the majority of people being vaccinated has protected you. Do the responsible and morally decent thing.

That's her perogarive but isn't it incredibly rude to ignore reams of evidence and put other vulnerable children at risk all for the sake of her previous snowflake?

THAT is beyond rude - it's positively vile.