Postponong immunisations until the new 5-in-1 vaccine is available

[tangerinecath]

DD is due her first round of immunisations in around 2 weeks' time - DH and I have decided to postpone them until the new 5-in-1 vaccine is available. I have done a lot of reading and listened to much advice before taking this decision, but given the facts as I see them I don't believe that we are putting DD's health at risk by postponing the vaccinations for the extra 4-6 weeks that our surgery tells me that we will have to wait. I thought I's share the info I put together with you, I'd appreciate any comments or further advice.

Meningitis C ? Spread by close contact with an infected person, via coughing, sneezing or kissing. 2 confirmed cases in infants less than 1 year old last year. Other strains of meningitis (especially MenB) far more prevalent. Mortality rate approx. 7%. Possibility of seizures, hearing loss, skin scars, limb loss or brain damage in survivors.

Whooping Cough (Pertussis) ? Spread by contact with an infected person, via coughing and sneezing. 111 confirmed cases reported last year in babies less than 1 year old. Mortality rate approx 0.2%. Half of babies who catch the disease are hospitalised.

HiB ? Spread by contact with an infected person, via coughing and sneezing. Causes diseases such as meningitis, eppiglottitis, septic arthritis, osteomyelitis, septicaemia, celullitis, pneumonia, pericarditis. 29 confirmed cases reported last year in infants of less than 1 year old. Mortality rate approx. 5%. Possibility of seizures, hearing loss, skin scars, limb loss or brain damage in survivors.

Tetanus ? Present in soil and manure, gets into the body through cuts and sores. No confirmed cases reported in babies under 1 year in 2002. Mortality rate is very low.

Diptheria ? Spread by contact with an infected person, via coughing and sneezing. 21 confirmed cases reported in 2002. Mortality rate 5-10%. Possibility of long term heart disease in survivors.

Polio ? Spread by contact with an infected person, via coughing and sneezing. Virtually eradicated worldwide due to vaccination programme (the last reported case in this country was in 1998). 0.1% of cases in children result in some paralysis (rate is higher in adults). Mortality rate very low.

Information gathered from the Health Protection Agency?s website at www.hpa.org.uk and the NHS?s immunisation website atwww.immunisation.org.uk.

It freaks me out they are planning to offer a 5 in 1 jab. DS had very bad reactions when they were administered separated including a full week with 40 degres of fever and no eating after the Hib. The main problem is that everybody is so concerned in making you believe that ALL the vacines are safe for ALL the children that they would not recognise/accept that your baby is reacting to the vacine in case she does. If I were you, I would get them separated now that you can.

...and if I could so everything again from the beginning I would insist/pay for mercury free vacines.

so=do

message withdrawn

I completely agree with you, Chandra.

After much soul searching, we gave ds the MMR jab and he was also ill with a 40 degree fever for 10 days. It was horrendous, both for him and for us in caring for him.

I really feel concerned about this 5-in-1 though. They are shoving even more nasty viruses into one bottle.

Logic, we didn't take any chances, we went for MMRSepVax. We couldn't risk it, he had reacted to all the under-a-year jabs.

I wish I had known more about thimerosil at the time though

Chandra, what is thimerosil?

I would probably think very hard about going for single jabs next time too. It's easy for people to tell you, "Oh, it's just a virus - give him calpol..." but they don't have to sit up all night with a screaming child, do they? It took us nearly 6 months to recover from the sleep deprivation from that.

You can find more about thimerosil at this thread , I didn't put enough attention to it until the news of this week.

There are more info in www.jabs.org.uk