Please give me some reassurance over MMR jab

[ml01omm]

DS is due to have his MMR jab next week.

I was googling re: when might he get a fever, so I could know to book some time off work if needed. I ended up down a link-clicking rabbit hole of stories of vaccine damage, children never being the same again, brain damage, personality changes and screaming for weeks on end in pain etc.

Please can you give me with your positive MMR stories/links to well balanced articles or data? So I can have some counter balance after all the scary things I've read.

(NB: we will still be getting DS the jab, this just might help me get some sleep for the next few weeks).

I don't know why you're getting such a hard time. Surely we've all done that thing where we've googled our sore toe and been told it's definitely cancer, organise the funeral. OP has been very clear her DC will absolutely be vaccinated she just wants some positive stories to put the negative ones out of her mind, which is quite sensible.

DD1 had hers and had a very high temp a week or 10 days later. A worrying 24 hours but didn't need anything more than calpol and ibuprofen.

DD2 was a bit grouchy the evening she had it and then nothing at all.

Honestly, I had my MMR two years ago at 51 and I'm fine.

Also had DTAP at the first jab as well with no ill effects.

Long story, but it turns out getting mumps as a child doesn't set you up for lifetime immunity, hence the jabs in middle age.

Oh dear!
When I had a wobble on this, at the height of the scare, I looked at the situation from outside my own head iyswim. Billions of children have had the vaccine, every child (over about 2 at the time) I knew had had the vaccine , no link had been found to associate the vaccine with autism. As well as that I remembered the fear in my mother when I contracted measles, my DSis was vulnerable. I was popped into quarantine and unable to leave my room from first suspicions until I was no longer infectious. I knew personally children effected by measles and rubella whilst in utero. I was aware of the use of vaccines for community protection and wanted to play my part.I am in my 50s now.. I took a long look at my 'starting to babble 'toddler and decided to do what was best. No problems from the vaccine and they haven't caught MM or R! When the truth of that scandal came out lots of mothers of DC of similar ages to mine felt awful for not having protected their children as per medical recommendation.They had thought they were doing their best by their babies only to find that due to one man's vanity and dishonesty they had potentially caused harm.

But what difference would it make if every person here told you that they / their DC was fine?

You know this to be the case.

You chose to read the idiotic accounts that truly are not easy to find. If you Google, they top results are linked to positive, rational reasons backed by evidence to get the vaccine.
You totally had to go searching out the batshit stuff, and I've little time for that.

You did a five hour deep dive of anti vax shite? Did you not realise you were straying into that territory after about five minutes?

Vaccine all the way. The chances of a serious reaction are minuscule.

Having almost died of measles when I was 3 or 4, all of mine had the MMR jab, a couple of them at the height of the scare. I looked at the Wakefield paper - tiny, self-selected sample with no control and thought it was utter bollocks.

I can confirm no personality changes, nothing. All fine.

@EarringsandLipstick

But what difference would it make if every person here told you that they / their DC was fine?

You know this to be the case.

You chose to read the idiotic accounts that truly are not easy to find. If you Google, they top results are linked to positive, rational reasons backed by evidence to get the vaccine.
You totally had to go searching out the batshit stuff, and I've little time for that.

She knows this. She just wants a bit of positive reinforcement to give her head a wobble.

Honestly, I'm as level headed, pro science, anti woo as they come but I think we've all let something get under our skin before. OP is just asking on here for positive stories where others might ask friends or family.

I think people overreact a bit regarding fevers etc. post-vaccination. I suspect a lot of cases are more psychological than anything - anxious parents overanalysing their children’s behaviour afterwards.

DS had his MMR and everything else (even a few extra thrown in - Meningitis B and ACWY) and hasn’t had a bad reaction to any of them so far. Not even a mild fever

Both of mine had their MMR with no issues at all.

If you want some horror stories read about what measles, mumps and rubella can do.

I have a cousin who was left blind and deaf by measles.

You’re highly unlikely to need any time off for it. Do not get sidetracked by scare stories, just don’t.

If you have Netflix watch The Social Dilemma. It shows you how search engines reinforce your search. A classic of this would be if you were looking for positive stories about X it will keep showing you links to more of these. It doesn't offer a counter unless you are looking for it.

Both my sons had the MMR, Ds1 is 18 and Ds2 is 15. They have had both doses. They are both fine and healthy.

If you want to feel better, have a look at this website which is correlation not causation. It highlights ridiculous things like the number of films Nicholas Cage appears in seems to run parallel with number of people who drowned falling into a pool. Obviously Nicolas Cage did not cause those deaths. It is the same with the anecdotes.

www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

Sorry, but my stories aren’t positives.

A school friend of mine had an identical twin sister who suffered the effects of her dm having rubella while pregnant. One twin was born perfect and the other had birth defects and died before she was an adult. It was an incredibly stark example.

Early in my working life one of the unvaccinated dc had rubella very mildly and his dps sent him to school anyway. A colleague, who was in the very early stages of pregnancy caught it and miscarried.

My cousin barely survived the whooping cough, and has lung scarring.

I’m only on my 40s. I vaccinated my dc without hesitation.

@SuperSange

You did a five hour deep dive of anti vax shite? Did you not realise you were straying into that territory after about five minutes?

I think I wrote it badly in my post - I didn't do a 5 hour deep dive.

@MindyStClaire Thank you - yep thats it in a nutshell just some positive reinforcement to give my head a wobble.

[quote OnTheBenchOfDoom]If you have Netflix watch The Social Dilemma. It shows you how search engines reinforce your search. A classic of this would be if you were looking for positive stories about X it will keep showing you links to more of these. It doesn't offer a counter unless you are looking for it.

Both my sons had the MMR, Ds1 is 18 and Ds2 is 15. They have had both doses. They are both fine and healthy.

If you want to feel better, have a look at this website which is correlation not causation. It highlights ridiculous things like the number of films Nicholas Cage appears in seems to run parallel with number of people who drowned falling into a pool. Obviously Nicolas Cage did not cause those deaths. It is the same with the anecdotes.

www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations[/quote]
Thank you I'll take a look

I don't believe in using anecdotal evidence over actual stats but if it helps ease your mind then every single person I know has had the MMR vaccine and none of them suffered any negative side effects.

Anti vax "research" should be banned. It's so damaging because no matter how many legitimate scientific research papers state that vaccines are safe, there will always be some horrific image or story (that is likely fabricated) that makes parents question whether they're doing the right thing.

@FartnissEverbeans

I think people overreact a bit regarding fevers etc. post-vaccination. I suspect a lot of cases are more psychological than anything - anxious parents overanalysing their children’s behaviour afterwards.

DS had his MMR and everything else (even a few extra thrown in - Meningitis B and ACWY) and hasn’t had a bad reaction to any of them so far. Not even a mild fever

You know the fever shows on a thermometer, right? The side effects are well documented and understood. I've had two kids go through the usual childhood vaccinations, their reactions have ranged from being absolutely fine to a bit cranky to one very high temperature. All short-lived and obviously much milder than the actual diseases would have been and more than worth it, but all in line with the documentation for the relevant vaccines and absolutely not a psychological reaction of mine.

Dismissing other parents' experiences just because yours were different is as ridiculous as an anti vaxxer insisting there's a link between the MMR and autism because of one child they know.

Oh and meningitis B is now on the normal schedule and has been for a few years now. It is so likely to result in a high temp that parents are instructed to give paracetamol as soon as the vaccine is given and give two further doses, rather than the usual advice to wait and see what happens.

My DD was a bit grumpy for a couple of weeks. She got a fever a week after then 2 weeks later developed a small measles type rash but nothing major - all normal reactions. Back to her normal, crazy self shortly after!

MMR was fine for ds, who was a bit sleepy the same evening, little bit hot, and then fine.

I did know one child who had such a range of severe allergies including egg that I think he had the MMR in a healthcare setting - but that's not the viruses themselves, it's the carrier (?) ingredients that might have led to a reaction.

I'm in my 50s and had 'natural' measles, mumps and rubella during childhood, along with plenty of other childhood ailments. I'm from a family of ridiculously robust health and certainly had no long term effects, but people don't remember just how much of childhood was taken up with feeling like shit in the past. I don't remember a single family holiday where one of us didn't come down with some infectious illness. Children's books of the pre-vaccine era are so full of illness and quarantine, it's quite odd looking at them now.

Both my DS had the MMR jab, they were a bit under the weather for about 12-24 hours but nothing a bit of calpol and cuddles couldn’t fix

In terms of long term side effects, I had the jab about 33 years ago and am absolutely fine

Things like the MMR jab have been in mass circulation for decades. If there were any credible side effects like the anti Vax sites claim it wouldn’t be used any more.

Have you tried reading clinical trials and published papers or is it just the bullshit conspiracy theories?

I know this is an old threat but came across it tonight and just wanted to say that my daughter had her last set of injection at 3 and has never been the same since and she's now 6. It was as if overnight she turned moody, miserable, super sensitive and unhappy. She even suffered from depression during lockdown. So sad because she was the happiest little toddler ever, always smiling. It may have been nothing to do with the jab but I honestly can't think what else changed. Generally though I think these things are very safe....I guess it's just your luck

there's a good antivaxxer documentary on channel 4 player you can watch on catchup on 4OD. It explains the background about Wakefield, MMR and what antivaxxers gain from spreading lies. Well worth a watch.