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Original poster

If you decided to delay or to forgo MMR, how did health professionals react?

431 replies

usedtogotomars · 19/12/2017 16:41

Just wondering about this (and haven’t yet decided) - do they respond in a way that respects your view or do they try to persuade you to have the vaccinations given to your child?

OP posts:
JediStoleMyBike · 19/12/2017 18:04

One health care professional being wrong doesn't equal them all. It's up to you but you can harm lots of other people with this decision as has already been said. Try keep that in mind if you follow this path.
As an aside, do you have to declare to nurseries if your children are vaccinated or not?

BertrandRussell · 19/12/2017 18:05

“This is the second time I've written this on a thread today, trust your gut, end of“

And it was daft both times. Guts are excellent at processing food. Thinking and reasoning? Not so much.

genever · 19/12/2017 18:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
usedtogotomars · 19/12/2017 18:06

I think that the point is that I can imagine that with a young baby and alone I would feel vulnerable and could easily be cocerced into something I’m not sure about. Anyway, thanks for the replies.

OP posts:
AdalindSchade · 19/12/2017 18:06

Individual medical professionals aren't always right but the evidence in favour of vaccinations is pretty compelling. Hmm

theredjellybean · 19/12/2017 18:06

Snow man... At my practice the nurses doing vaxs ask parents to make appointments to talk about it if a parent is unsure and I am always happy to discuss it, give them info etc.
If parents are not sure, often it's a case of unpicking their fears and beliefs about vaxs.
That is important imo

MrsTerryPratchett · 19/12/2017 18:06

Medical professionals make decisions based on statistics. It is massively more likely someone dies or is severely affected by a disease than is vaccine damaged. That doesn't mean that sometimes there aren't bad outcomes. It's all 'best guess'.

Firenight · 19/12/2017 18:07

No problems from health professionals at all. Internet strangers are the worst for judging.

Original poster
usedtogotomars · 19/12/2017 18:10

Thanks, fire

OP posts:
packofshunts · 19/12/2017 18:11

Jedi.. good question. Was also wondering if you have to declare non- vaccination at nursery/school etc

As an aside, I remember the woman who led our NCT classes proudly state at the last session that none of her DCs had been vaccinated as she paraded them around infront our our newborns.

FreeNiki · 19/12/2017 18:11

It's a strange one.

You have people in the third world with children dying from preventable illness and would give anything for free vaccinations.

People on the first world galloping off on their high horses thinking they know best and it's bad to vaccinate.

Wollstonecraft1 · 19/12/2017 18:11

I really think we have forgotten as a society what the infant mortality rate was before immunisations were available. We are so bloody lucky to live in a country where they are free for us. Immunise your children, not immunising them can kill them or others. End of.

genever · 19/12/2017 18:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
usedtogotomars · 19/12/2017 18:14

Not really genever I haven’t made my mind up yet, my baby isn’t even born yet so there’s a while to think about it.

It’s asking if I decided to go down a particular route what the likely reactions would be, as such I’ve thanked the people who answered the questions and tbh tried to ignore the people who have just hurled insults at me. Obviously it’s an emotive topic but it’s emotive for me too. So to me it’s just best to ignore and let people get out of their systems.

OP posts:
JediStoleMyBike · 19/12/2017 18:17

Usedtogotomars - is your issue with the vaccines themselves or healthcare professionals in general? I may have missed your explanation, if so apologies.

genever · 19/12/2017 18:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

packofshunts · 19/12/2017 18:20

No insults, just evidence based scientific facts

Lunde · 19/12/2017 18:22

We were never anti-vac because dh is a hcp who had cared for brain-damaged children during a measles outbreak.

However where we live (not UK) the MMR is not scheduled until 18 months - DD1 did not receive hers until around 22 months because she was ill. DD1 has ASD but it had no connection with vaccination.

JennyHolzersGhost · 19/12/2017 18:23

Breathtaking ignorance and selfishness. And what Wollstonecraft and FreeNiki said.
This suspicion of vaccination is just a tiny part of the populist distrust of ‘experts’ we’ve seen recently. It’s bloody dangerous.
OP, I can only presume from your posts that you’ve been given the impression that vaccination is somehow controversial and that there are two sides and valid arguments either way. That is emphatically NOT the case. The evidence in favour of vaccination is overwhelming. The current popular-cultural distrust of vaccination comes from one extremely discredited scandal which gripped public attention and has since sadly settled in people’s subconsciousness as somehow meaning there is an equivalence between the pro and anti vaccination camps. There is no such equivalence.

MrsTerryPratchett · 19/12/2017 18:23

I'm nor sure people are 'hurling insults'. People do tend to get emotional about babies being put at risk of dying from preventable diseases. Not sure there's a way to avoid the emotion in that scenario.

Smitff · 19/12/2017 18:24

If you can’t handle confrontation or dealing with people challenging or refuting your views, how on earth would you cope with a child at death’s door because you took the decision not to give him/her a life saving vaccination???

So often reading MN I end up muttering to myself about how batshit people can be...

Original poster
usedtogotomars · 19/12/2017 18:26

I understand people get emotional, but the point is it isn’t confirmation bias if I elicit not to respond to those posts.

Jenny, you are very, very wrong about my motives and my reading habits I’m afraid.

OP posts:
Shmithecat · 19/12/2017 18:31

OP, vaccinations are not a legal requirement in the UK so if you don't want to vaccinate, then don't. Just don't waste any HCPs precious time trying to validate your own decisions. And hope that your child never dies from a totally preventable disease. 🙄

Jemimapuddleduk · 19/12/2017 18:31

It’s not just babies being put at risk of dying from preventable diseases it’s immuno compromised babies, children and adults. The chemotherapy my son had for 6 months at the age of 16 months - 22 months to treat AML wiped out any immunity he had from his childhood vaccinations. He then could not be re vaccinated for 6 months post treatment so there was a period of 12 months where he was totally reliant on herd immunity. It was terrifying- for those first 6 months measles would have most likely killed him. There are many adults and children in a similar boat to him in our communities. Non vaxers really are incredibly selfish and stupid in my eyes.

MrsTerryPratchett · 19/12/2017 18:33

The problem with not knowing your reasoning is that it is very difficult to say what the HCPs will think.

a) My brother had a reaction to the MMR and was damaged and I'm worried DCs might have a similar reaction.

b) My aunt's GP once misdiagnosed her asthma and now I don't trust any medical professionals.

a) may be met with concern and understanding. b) looks like you don't understand risk.