Menjugate vaccine scare - we've been asked to comment - what do you think?

[CarrieMumsnet]

We've been asked how Mumsnetters have reacted to the story here and here

what do you think?

They want comments in next 20 mins!!

Thanks and over to you?

Obviously, any concern over the safety of vaccines is very worrying and, as the mother of an 8mo, vaccines are very much in my mind at the moment.

But, I have to say my main concern now is how many parents will now decide not to have the vaccine - we don't want the MMR scare all over again!!

I want to know what is being done to protect our babies - I don't want to be scared unnecessarily.

"...only issued an emergency recall last night after being contacted about the potential contamination by The Independent. " That's BAD! They should have acted the second they knew something was wrong, not waited until they knew it might get in the press. Even if it was low risk. If they felt there was some risk, however small, which justified a recall they should have done it regardless of press interest.

It's that kind of thing that makes me mistrustful of 'government assurances' - not that a mistake happened, but that people were perhaps inclined to cover it up.

First I've heard of it, but hardly gives me any faith in the vaccines that are peddled these days. We are already single vaxers. I am considering when DC2 arrives later in the year to delay the first vaxes for a few months - this only re-inforces my decision.

what wibblypig said

I worry (a lot) about parents being scared off hugely important vaccines because of scare stories.

Obviously it's a worry that these vaccines were contaminated, and even more worrying that there appears to have been a bit of a cover up, but it's more worrying that people may opt out of innoculating their children against wholly preventable diseases.

Just wanted to add that I agree with becstarlitsea - any risk at all should be instantly identified and dealt with - this is a really worrying case and it will make people doubt other vaccines too.

The risk is remote, if at all. I think that they should have airfreighted the vaccine before allowing it to be put in our surgeries, it would have prevented a recall which is, at best, alarming. My son (aged 15 weeks) has just had the vaccine and I am not the slightest bit worried.

(gosh, what a lot of "worrying"s in my post )

aside from the obvious concern over the potential effects, the thing that worries me most is the delay in recalling the affected vaccines.

All too often the governement leave it too late beofre reacting, especially where vaccines are concerned.

And then they wonder why people mistrust what they say (especially in relation to vaccines)

Sorry, didn't finish my last post - meant to add that that is exactly what we don't want!!

The Gov issue statments saying Bacteria that causes infections (sorry can't remember which)has been found in it, but don't worry. But if these bacteria are found on a hospital ward it is bad news.

They need to stop talking to us as if we're incapable of intelligent thoughts.

The rest of my post lost .

MMR and the controversy that is still very real for many parents has made enough tremors that parents don;t vaccinate enough already, this could make the vaccine take up a lot worse.

Not read the other comments but what strikes me after reading the news reports is that this will have worried a lot of us who have just had/ are about to have our children vaccinated against men c. There's no information given at all to mums in this situation. What should we do? Should we be concerned? A little bit of a steer would be great.

"The tested samples that failed the sterility test were part of a non-routine study undertaken by the company and were not part of the UK market product."

It seems like a bit of a scare for no good reason - if it were shown that batches that had been used on children were contaminated, that would perhaps be more worrying. Although this is basically saying they were not sterile, which is very different from saying that have THIS PARTICULARLY BACTERIA which will result in THIS AWFUL INEVITABLE CATASTROPHE.

This is obviously a nightmare, both for the authorities and any parents who feel their child's health may have been compromised....but parents must still be urged to take up the MMR vaccine. Measles can kill.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't tbh.

As someone who chose the single jabs rather than mmr for my children just in case I have to say this story does not worry me that much. It is an issue of sterility, the batches have been pulled and weren't used in the UK anyway. that's very different from the possibility of vaccines themeselves causing lasting damage (or not - the possibility).

I would have though that anyone who received the non-sterlie dose would either have developed an infection shortly afterwards or if not would be fine.

It's not great that the slip up happenned of course but sounds like they caught it early and took action for what is only a theoretical risk.

As someone who chose the single jabs rather than mmr for my children just in case I have to say this story does not worry me that much. It is an issue of sterility, the batches have been pulled and weren't used in the UK anyway. that's very different from the possibility of vaccines themeselves causing lasting damage (or not - the possibility).

I would have though that anyone who received the non-sterlie dose would either have developed an infection shortly afterwards or if not would be fine.

It's not great that the slip up happenned of course but sounds like they caught it early and took action for what is only a theoretical risk.

Agree with MP - and also as others have said, the most worrying aspect of this imo, is that vaccine uptake will be affected.

i think journalists are generating these scare stories for no good reason apart from their own career and so they get some publicity.
the vaccines are not DANGEROUS, they were just not sterile.
they were not even in the UK.

If it was a batch of bandages which had become dirty do you think this would have got the same reaction?

i think the press should be more responsible imo because people are just going to read the headlines and start freaking out.
that journalist could end up with blood on her hands if children die from not having the vaccine. ok so that comment was a bit extreme, but it's all such irresponsible media scaremongering.

I've got very little trust in the media any more when it comes to reporting the facts in health "scares".

That's sad isn't it? Who can we trust?

Personally I find this article poorly written.

Firstly it doesn't specify what would happen to a child vaccinated with a batch deemed not sterile. Would it affect the efficacy of the vaccine at all? Would the child become sick in any way?

Secondly it doesn't say where the non sterile batches were, just 'not in the UK'. Why not explain where they were?

Thirdly there is no clear explanation of how these batches ended up being exposed and losing their sterility. Does it happen often?

Fourthly there is absolutely no mention of HOW EFFECTIVE the Men C vaccine is and how many deaths have been prevented since it has been incorporated into the routine vaccine schedule.

In my opinion, it is another media scaremongering story. The danger of course being that there is less of an uptake in future Men C vaccines as parents become confused as to what is safe and not safe.

I agree with the media scaremongering comments. Yet more fuel on the anti-vaccination fire.

What TMAM said just below/