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?

Exactly this!!

Whilst I don't agree with her tone and asking you to defer to "hubby" as if because you have a vagina you can't possibly make this decision yourself! Please do seek advise on when and how is best to get the next round of vaccinations. What they protect from is so much worse than any reaction they might have. I'd also have a word with her that the way she has approached you about this was wrong despite the right intentions

What a stupid comment! My DS nearly died after catching measles a week before he was due his MMR! He has been left with hearing loss among other things! Parents who don't vaccinate their children are selfish fools! The receptionist probably had a "tone" because she has far more important things to be doing than chasing up idiots who don't have their children vaccinated!

Op im pretty sure you would forget your distrust of the NHS pretty quickly should your dc contract one of these illnesses and become seriously ill!!

Presumably it was the NHS who looked after her twins in the NICU

OP please get your children vaccinated asap.

My DD was unwell with her first vaccines for 4 days but was full term. We were warned before hand she may be unwell for a few days and she was. She also refused to take paracetamol.

My DP's eldest child had a reaction to their first vaccinations so had to have the next lot in hospital. The child was fine.

If your children were seriously ill then you would have been advised to have the next lot of vaccinations in a hospital setting.

On another note my DD got chicken pox when she had just turned 3. She had to spend 32 hours in A&E under observation because she got another infection as well. None of the staff could work out what it was so had to check she was breathing. Now luckily for you, your DT can have the chicken pox vaccine so hopefully you won't have to go through that.

Hi @SLiath

i had similar we then went ahead and split the vaccines to just do one at a time my gp fully agreed with this and it was gentler on my babies immune systems and digestive systems. Maybe ask if you can do this it’s takes a bit longer but means they still get vaccinated as better late than never

Health care professionals can come across as condescending ( and I am one). I think the tendency to call all mothers “ mum” either when speaking about the parent, or addressing her, quite bizarre. However, GPs are really closely monitored in just about every aspect of their practice eg how much of a whole host of medications they are prescribing every year, how much vaccination they are achieving etc etc . She is really doing her job and applying policies as dictated to her by her ICB and ultimately by the Ministry of Health.

We get fed up.with people who don't put their kids first. If you haveva genuine worry speak to the GP or their paediatrician but FFS get them vaccinated. 11 babies dead this year from pertussis.

Not sure if this thread is in good faith. What is a "child health surveillance team"? And it's also always twins.

Isn’t it already part of the 6 in 1 vaccine (which is just one injection)?

OP likely had her whooping cough vaccine in pregnancy so they will have some protection from that. You could rephrase you reponse to be kinder eg ‘whooping cough is prevalent and dangerous for babies currently - if you’re going to get vaccinated maybe make that vaccine a priority’ rather than being harsh

Twins are much more likely to be premature and in an NICU

Why are people so clueless about vaccinations for children nowadays. It's madness.
You don't want them catching the things it protects them from do you?
What are you going to do to protect them ? If not a vaccination?

Where I live there is a child vaccine team separate to the gp, they hold the records too and often text reminders of late/ missing vaccines . My 7 year old only just had his mmr booster then they emailed to say they were going to his school for catch up doses and could do his and for me to sign a form but he already had it and the gp hadn’t sent them the details as they have a separate system

Will you trust the NHS to treat your children if they develop a serious disease, which could have been vaccinated against?

You could make an appointment to have a chat about your concerns which could help put your mind at rest? This woman was unnecessarily abrupt and you do not have to fill in a form because you haven't yet had a vaccine. I have met some people within the NHS who are condescending like this and just make you feel bad - most are lovely though. I think you should be having a conversation about how to proceed, rather than whether to or not - I was a bit wary of vaccines and got some late, but I don't think I would want to risk it with the current levels of whooping cough. My mum declined the whooping cough vaccine for my sister back in the 70s because there was controversy around it and my sister did get whooping cough and my mum said she felt really guilty.

I have mistrust of the NHS and some particular vaccines based on personal experience. My DC had most of them as scheduled but one I delayed for a year. The GP surgery wasn't thrilled but they never rang me or pressured me, no.

DC didn't react at all to the one I'd delayed, fwiw. Probably would have been fine to have it as scheduled.

Op dc have already been in NICU so that’s just an inflammatory comment. You know there are ways of reassuring people and there are other options for vaccinations if there’s been a reaction (split vaccines, vaccines in hospital as day case, etc). By shouting someone down with a narrow minded view of how things have to be done you lose an opportunity for gentle and helpful education to achieve a goal of a solution that OP is comfortable with and that gets her babies safely vaccinated.

DD2 was "very poorly" after her 8week jabs. Took her back to the GP the next day and they had to call an ambulance.

She still had the rest of her jabs, but at the paeds unit in our local hospital as an inpatient so she could be observed. Both 12 week and 16 week were fine so nurse at the GP did the 1 yr and preschool jabs. That was the recommendation by a qualified doctor.

Why did I still get her vaccinated after such a bad reaction? Because if a tiny amount of an inactive virus in the vaccine could make her that poorly, catching the actual live infection would be unthinkable!

As a parent to premature children- vaccination is even more important. You need to organise them and a sooner rather than later. As others have said- very, very surprised that no hospital teams have impressed the importance on you.

If they were very poorly after the first vaccines, talk to whoever dealt with that about your concerns. Maybe it might make sense to wait a little longer for the other boosters, but it would be better to discuss that with someone with the medical knowledge rather than just say no. If you didn't give calpol because they were under weight for it, talk to someone about that, too - mine was too small, but I was advised that I could give a smaller dose.

It isn't a single vaccine given to pregnant women. It's the same one they give to babies 6 in 1.

I agree that there is a real lack of training in the NHS re. tone and manner. Many NHS receptionists are either patronising or inappropriate on sensitive topics. But this is something you just need to overlook when making important medical decisions. Basically, you need to get your babies' vaccinations up to date so best crack on with it.

https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/whooping-cough-vaccination/ More information on the whooping cough vaccine in pregnancy- like PP said it’s not just whooping cough