Anyone NOT having the whooping cough vaccine?

[Bluepetra]

Im not on here to sway anyone either way, for or against but I'm not entirely convinced I need to have this vaccine. I'm not anti vaccine, but this one has too many negatives for myself. Has anyone else decided not to have it ?

If you've heard a child with whooping cough, jesus it's a sound like no other.

For those who haven't the below video is of an infant girl with whooping cough. 35 seconds you can here the 'whoop'. This is what the vaccine can prevent. Trigger warning, it may be distressing for some but something I think people should see.

I'll definitely have it. I had WC myself as a child (now in my mid 30s) and it was by far the sickest I have ever been: in hospital for weeks, off school for three months. It was horrific. The idea of my baby getting it fills me with utter dread.

Thanks ladies ... I will call now !!
Can't believe nobody's mentioned it to me? Sometimes I wonder what if we don't look into these things ourselves? Would we never get told??! Thanks again

I should add I know there wasn't a pregnancy vaccine when I had it, but my mum turned down the vaccine I was offered as a baby for it for much the same reasons PPs have listed. She now says it's her biggest parenting regret.

That's the video I saw. Poor little thing.

That video breaks my heart.

When I was training there was a little boy who had it and I felt so helpless. I just wanted to take it away and give it to myself or something.

I think posting videos like that is useless, people are not stupid for wanting more info about the effects of the vaccine whilst pregnant, we know how nasty WC is and that it can kill, that's missing the point. We don't want our babies to catch it or to suffer and die. I also don't want to blindly follow and then end up with a tragedy on my hands as I didn't research properly.
My baby will definitely get the vaccine at 8 weeks. It's getting the jab during pregnancy and possible effects on a baby in the womb which concern me most.personal thoughts are what I've written already, if there's no WC or very little in my area why take the risk. This subject will always get people's backs up and make some annoyed but that won't change anything, there are two sides to everything. I do appreciate the medical facts given, thanks for those.

I don't see backs up or getting annoyed here. Are you disappointed?

It seems you've made your mind up anyway so why post if the replies are going to make you snitty?

Get the jab, don't get the jab. It's your baby and your risk.

We all took the vaccines but because some didn't the virus mutated & we were very very ill. I'm so pissed off that other people put my families health in danger because they didn't get vaccinated

I've never ever been offered this vaccine glasgowlass and have never heard of any adult being offered it apart from pregnant women.

I researched this in depth when pregnant (actual studies, not blogs and stuff). I could not find one study that linked the whooping cough jab with still birth. There is tonnes of evidence and real cases that link whooping cough to poorly babies and death.

I really don't think saying that you just won't mix with anyone with whooping cough for 8 weeks is viable. We had to take our baby to midwife clinics for about 2 weeks after birth so were in waiting rooms with others, we had visits from family and friends, went for coffee, went shopping, went to the gp etc. it is really hard to keep a baby isolated from others, and you'll have no way of knowing who is poorly and who isn't.

I think posting videos like that is useless, people are not stupid for wanting more info about the effects of the vaccine whilst pregnant, we know how nasty WC is and that it can kill, that's missing the point

I didn't say people are stupid for wanting more info.

And no, not everyone knows how bad whooping cough is. Most people are lucky enough to have not experienced it, or seen it.

and for you: www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4219

there was no evidence of an increased risk of stillbirth in the 14 days immediately after vaccination (incidence rate ratio 0.69, 95% confidence interval 0.23 to 1.62) or later in pregnancy (0.85, 0.44 to 1.61) compared with historical national rates. Compared with a matched historical cohort of unvaccinated pregnant women, there was no evidence that vaccination accelerated the time to delivery (hazard ratio 1.00, 0.97 to 1.02). Furthermore, there was no evidence of an increased risk of stillbirth, maternal or neonatal death, pre-eclampsia or eclampsia, haemorrhage, fetal distress, uterine rupture, placenta or vasa praevia, caesarean delivery, low birth weight, or neonatal renal failure, all serious events that can occur naturally in pregnancy

Gamerchick
I see a few annoyed responses including your own, but that's ok, as I say it's bound to happen. There's no point arguing here or being pissed off with anyone. I have a right to discuss it just as anyone else does.

My kids are older now but they had it as babies.
Can I ask what are your reasons for not having it? It is included with diphtheria and polio as well isn't it? Has it been in the news or something recently?

I'm actually quite anti vaccines although mine have had all baby ones and MMR (against my choosing but DH insisted) however, I think nothaving whooping cough and Dip and polio isn't a great idea.

DS1 was born just a couple of months before the vaccine was rolled out for pregnant women. We were in the postnatal ward for several days and another woman's older child had a very obvious case of WC. The midwives told her that it was too risky and the older child couldn't be allowed on the ward but she continued to sneak him back in.

We were very lucky that DS didn't catch it, but the other babies on the ward may not have been so lucky. I have no idea if any of those babies caught it but I think about it and that woman's selfish actions often. When I was pregnant with DS2 I didn't hesitate and got the vaccine as soon as I hit 28 weeks.

Not pregnant but it weighs heavily in my mind. I do worry about the effects of vaccines on pregnant women when we know that babies in utero health can be damaged by fever, immune responses, virus' etc

I'm not worried about aluminum content, unless I had a significant methylation problem im confident my adult body could detox adjuvants. I am however theoretically concerned about my immune response potentially harming my baby. I don't feel enough research has been done on this in pregnancy and long term health of the babies. It would be unethical to perform the research in the first place, hence its a mothers choice where she balances the risks.

The wc jab is notoriously innefective (according to a few HCP I know) and wears off much quicker than we'd hoped hence we are still surrounded by it. I have been told many childhood "asthma" episodes are actually whooping cough by a GP. The Diptheria and tetanus parts to the jab are obviously far more effective fortunately hence its still in our schedule though I do wish they'd bring out a newer more effective aP jab. (That did already happen, the aP part is better and safer than the original whole cell P, but it's a shame it's still not a brilliant vaccine)

I wonder if it's possible to have the jab post partum, I did read that somewhere (I think?) and thought I may opt for that to provide some coverage till babyjabs

I think my issue is that people do their research, or think they are, but they're reading biased and inaccurate information displayed in a way that makes it look credible. Someone sent you a link to the Arnica Facebook page - that page terrifies the shit out of me because of the amount of rubbish they're telling people. Stuff that can lead to people's deaths. But the people on there use the right words, come across quite intelligent and believable. Whilst spouting dangerous, misinformed information.

It's up to you what you do of course.

Couldn't read it as I'm not on Facebook but I'm not into pseudo science. I do have faith in medical science. I agree there.

I fact my 30-year-old was only vaccinated when she was pregnant, so there are large swathes of people who not consciously refusing the vaccine glasgowlass

No worries cactus.

NHS vaccination programmes are not decided upon based on a whim (not least because they cost a lot of money), there will have been significant research and debate as to whether to do this from the leading scientists in their field. I feel happy to follow their judgement because I am not an epidemiologist or doctor and feel like they probably know more about it than I do.

Plus a google of peer reviewed scientific papers on the matter shows that the evidence suggests that there is no additional risk from having the vaccination. For example:

www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4219

It is important when researching things like this that you consider whether the evidence you are looking at is sound, the key thing being that correlation does not equal causation. Just because there are some stories out there of people having the vaccination and then having issues does not mean that the vaccination caused those issues. You need to look at a large cohort of people and statistically sample both women who had the vaccine and women who didn't to see if there are any differences in the rates of people having problems. This is what the above study does, looking at over 20,000 women and it concludes that there is no additional risk.

Sorry Greys I hadn't spotted that you'd already linked that study :)

Atenco you seem to have jumped all over my post, unsure if you're trying to bait me?

Adults are not generally offered this vaccine, true, but both DP & I vaccinated as children. Before I met him he was given a booster vax(plus many more vaxs) at a private clinic, which he paid for, as he was travelling extensively. I received vax in 2nd pregnancy. So just because you've never heard of it being offered to adults other than pregnant women does not mean its not available!
Is not the people who unconsciously aren't vaccinated that piss me off. Its the ones who do make a conscious decision not to! Like I said in original post, I wouldn't wish WC on anyone having experienced it myself.
I respect that others have their own opinions. Doesn't mean I need to agree with them. I've watched my young child with WC. Its not anything I ever wish to experience again.

"I wonder if it's possible to have the jab post partum, I did read that somewhere (I think?) and thought I may opt for that to provide some coverage till babyjabs"

Women can have the vaccine postpartum if they didn't get vaccinated in pregnancy, but this will only benefit you directly in terms of reduction in the likelihood of catching pertussis. It will benefit your newborn indirectly as you are less likely to pass pertussis to your baby should you catch it. However the baby obviously won't have any active immunity from the vaccine the mum has after delivery as there won't have been any transference of placental antibodies.

I believe immunity from breastfeeding due to antibodies in breastmilk is minimal as the antibodies do not pass easily in this way; I don't have access to the studies but I imagine they can be found online.

The baby itself can NOT have the vaccine postpartum, and would have to wait until it's own vaccines at 8 weeks (in the UK, I understand other countries may start vaccines earlier - thank you TheDowagerCuntess for reminding me that not everyone on MN is in the UK )

glasgowlass I am so sorry for the problems you had and it is nothing personal, but there is no reason to blame people who make a conscious decision not to vaccinate, often for very good reasons, more than nearly all the adults over a certain age who have never had the vaccination, IMHO.