GP’s manner over babies vaccines

[SLiath]

I just had a voicemail from a woman at my GP’s practice. The only way to describe her tone is condescending. She asked if I had a chance to speak with “hubby” about getting immunisations for my two twins. I am a single mother. I had the first round which made them very poorly and declined the second for the time being I was concerned for their health. They were born premature and we spent 5 weeks in NICU so didn’t want anything impacting their feeding. She then stated with a very snarky tone that if I was not having them immunised I need to go to the practice to sign a form because the “child health surveillance team keeps emailing her.” I have had some hesitance to get the vaccines due to some mistrust in the NHS. This voicemail has now increased that trust. Has anyone had a similar experience?

That is a ridiculous comparison and at the end of the day if vaccines were proven 100% effective with no side effects and a parent still chooses not to vaccinate their child it is up to them and no one else's business

I was going to ask why diarrhoea and malaria are irrelevant. But your opinions are rather ill-informed @AgathaSultana, so it’s likely your answer will be too. Making up nonsense as you go along.

“Not your children, not your business.” It is when ill-informed parents put other kids and adults at risk.
I wonder if the same line would be used when unvaxxed kids are blur-lighted to hospital for said avoidable infections.

How would unvaccinated children put others at risk? If you're so confident in them it wouldn't effect you at all.
At the end of the day you can try and belittle me all you want but it's a parents choice and that's all there is to it.

This is terrible advice.

@SLiath I understand you have a lot on and totally understand your anxiety with prem twins, my baby was a preemie too. I also know how some HCP's /admin have a manner which leaves much to be desired.

However, it is so important to get your children vaccinated. If they got a bit ill from the vaccination, how ill do you think the actual illness would make them?!

You need support and help for your anxiety if your "paranoia" about the NHS is going to stop you getting your children medical care.

Why don't you want them vaccinated? There's a lot of scaremongering going on about perfectly safe, essential vaccines that is putting well meaning, anxious parents off getting their children protected and this is leading to a resurgence of illnesses thought to be well in the past.

So what would you do if, heaven forbid, your child caught measles and ended up with a brain injury, blind, or dead? Would you hold your hands up and admit that it was completely your fault?

People who are chronically ill with certain conditions cannot be vaccinated. So kids and adults with conditions like immune disorders or cancer very often cannot be vaccinated because their Immune response is not up to it. So they are vulnerable to that infection.

If an otherwise healthy but unvaccinated kid gets an infection, they then have the means to spread the infection to people who haven’t the choice to be immunised, and who are already very sick, so will more likely suffer very poor or fatal outcomes.

If the pathogen spreads amongst people, it also has the means to mutate faster. Therefore increasing the risk of vaccine evasion, where strain becomes so different, a new vaccine is needed.

I’m not trying to belittle you. But some of what you said is simply not true. Yes, it is a parental choice, but there are good and poor choices to be made as a parent.

Vaccines don't stop you catching or spreading the illness though so people who can't have the vaccine (that is apparently so safe but certain people can't have them)

Of course. Just like every parent I feel guilty over every choice i make and hope its the right one. My children have had their childhood vaccinations due to pressure from nhs and people like you and I regret it and feel guilty about it so much.

You just reminded me my DD had to have a polio booster in 2022 because other parents hadn't got their children vaccinated and polio was found in sewage water.

My DD was/is in contact with people who were alive before the NHS came into existence. (So obviously she is in contact with people who were alive before the polio vaccine existed.)

Oh well, at least they’re safe

I don't.

I know people of different ages including British people who have seen disability and death of love ones and others because of lack of vaccination.

Absolutely ridiculous ‘advice’.

Yeah, my daughter is severely disabled with no chance at a normal life, but at least she's not going to infect anyone with polio.

It depends on the vaccination.

And even where you can you are less likely to make others sick and be noticeably sick yourself.

Please tell me you are not blaming that on a vaccine? Why not blame on one of another millions of things you do each day? I have an autistic child and fucking glad he got vaccinated. It is not linked.

If she is seriously disabled she’d have a higher chance of dying from illness so thank goodness you vaccinated her! Please don’t torture yourself by pretending it’s the vaccines fault.

I have been told by medical professionals it's due to the vaccine and I am in the process of claiming for it. So you can all fuck off.

I wonder if the internet had been around while smallpox was still prevalent, it would never have been consigned to the bin of history because too many people would have refused the vaccine?

Surely live polio vaccines are no longer used?

Yeah they won't work on some people due to their immune system. Or if they have allergies.
Or if it's a baby who is yet to be vaccinated.
This doesn't mean the vaccine is unsafe. It means certain situations make it unsuitable for certain people.

It's no longer used.

Stopped being used routinely in 2004 though can be used in the case of outbreak control.

There is an interesting documentary often on iPlayer about the race to develop the polio vaccination.

Yes they do. They absolutely do stop infection and spread. It’s the whole point of vaccines. Just as I’ve explained and it’s misinformation to suggest otherwise.

Vaccines are safe for people who have a robust immune system. The Immunocompromised aren’t given a vaccine because it is unsafe, but because there’s no point. Why? It’s mostly ineffective because their immune system is impaired, they cannot mount a sufficient immune response and so cannot gain longterm immunity when given a vaccine.

You would find this out in 2 seconds yourself if you just googled it instead of launching here with ill-informed statements. I really don’t see the point of you doing that. It could seriously hurt people.

You were told by medical professionals that your daughter has autism due to a polio vax?

This.

Nowhere did I say she has autism caused by a polio vaccine.