Immunisations

Immunisations are a wonderful thing, even if there is a tiny risk attached. As a previous poster remarked, just take a walk around a Victorian cemetery and count all the tiny graves. How awful it would be to return to those bad days.

Being rather old, I can recall several schoolfriends who died of diptheria and polio, and one who became paralysed and mentally damaged from measles. It was all so sad, and who knows what great things they might have achieved if they hadn't been cut down in their youth?

I may add that though I don't deny it could happen, in a long career in nursing I have never met a single child who is vaccine-damaged!

Calder i agree with you, the irony is that many people, by not being prepared to take the very small risk of one thing, in this case vaccination, end up in putting themselves and their family at the far greater risk of something worse, in this case diseases like whooping cough, measles or meningitis.

The problem is most people do not understand how to calculate probabilities, or understand them and all of us - and I definitely include myself, have a tendency to reach conclusions based on anecdotal evidence

Speaking personally, i am 73 and i will not have the flu vaccination. I had it once about 3 yrs ago and the nurse persuaded me to have the pneumonia vaccine at the same time by saying that one vaccination was protection for life. I have since discovered that it only provides protection for one year.
Being that I have never had pneumonia in my life I don't see how protection for that particular year made any difference and thanks to the vaccine,I now possibly have aluminium and other unpleasant metals floating about in my blood stream.

Why is this even a question? Vaccines are safe. Vaccines don't cause autism. The amount of woo sites online are directly responsible imo for the rise of privileged anti vax parents who will put everyone else's child at risk to support their half baked philosophy. 'Research' consists of them googling to find answers that support their prejudice. REAL research involves years & years of randomised controlled double blind trials. In this instance we do NOT know better than the experts. Babies too young to be immunised & ill children with compromised immune systems are having their lives put at risk by these selfish parents. People in 3rd world countries are crying out for vaccinations & think we are INSANE to refuse. Rant over - as you can tell it's a subject I feel strongly about.

" their relevance in a society which has good living conditions and diet."
Neither of which will prevent infection from a communicable disease.

Bebe4. As I understand it, the pneumonia jab is for life but the flu virus mutates each year and immunisation is therefore only for that year. I sincerely hope you don't catch flu or pneumonia. I, for one, will not take the risk of missing out on protection.

I agree. The minute we get lazy or sniffy about immunisation s is when children die again. I remember getting worried with the whooping cough shot.when my first was young. The doctor told me that in Jamaica she had looked after tiny babies with it and that it was heart breaking. Never regret having immunisations. They are not just about one person's health but that of the whole community.

littlefierce There is no such thing as a completely safe vaccine. This is recognised by the government.

If you’re severely disabled as a result of a vaccination against certain diseases, you could get a one-off tax-free payment of £120,000. This is called a Vaccine Damage Payment.

I doubt anyone on this thread would deny that vaccination is fir the general good. Please take that on board. But spare a thought for those that had their child vaccinated and were left with a severely damaged child, or worse.

Following my earlier post, have just read that meningitis in babies has fallen by 40% thanks to jab.

I think the figures speak for themselves. As an example,before the polio vaccination was introduced in 1955,there were up to 8000 cases of polio per year in the UK,with about 750 resulting in death,and many more in permanent paralysis. Since then,the number of cases has steadily declined,and in 1988,there were no cases of polio at all reported in the UK.

I work very part time as a practice nurse ,but have given many Men B immunisations . Yes it is new and we give it on it's own in the left leg so any side effects can be monitored . I have had a few parents who report a hard lump and irritability for 2-3 days ,but most have no side effects . Parents are advised to give paracetamol for 24 hrs even if no fever or redness, and if there is -for up to 72 hrs . I have had parents whose children are not included in the age group ask if they have it done privately ! I must add that my children both got whooping cough in the 70's as in those days it was not recommended to give if there was a family history of convulsions . They were very poorly and took months to get over it . A little bit of discomfort is worth it , as all preventable diseases especially meningitis are such dreadful things Don't think for one minute these diseases have gone away ,if immunisation levels go down the disease will be back !

The pneumonia injection given by the NHS in Uk is for life if you are over 65, where did you hear it wasn't Bebe? Go on the NHS website and you will see. I m not a great advocate of flu injections but did have the pneumonia after a few people in my area died very suddenly including an acquaintance who died after about 3 days being ill and another two close friends who did recover but was very ill for a month in hospital

Funnily enough I've just read in the newspaper that Men b cases have fallen by 40% since the vaccination programme.
I understand your misgivings but I think on balance I'd go for the immunisation.

My daughter as a baby caught whopping cough and she had had 2 of her jabs There was an outbreak in the town and the babies that ended up in hospital were the ones that the parents did not give the jabs .My husband aged then 8 had meningitis ,brain abscess and other things luckily he survived and then they did not know whether it was Men A or Betc

I do not think it is "a contentious issue" - the scientific evidence is unequivocal.

My strong objection to these sort of posts is that it creates fear where none need be and puts children at risk. The disaster of the spurious whooping cough vaccine scare should be enough to cause people to think hard about what they say.

As a child I had meningitis Which I was told I was lucky to pull out of I seemed to be healthy apart from partial deafness in one ear But in my teens I then started to have fits and in my 30s I then was medically retired from work after a stroke all this was all put down to my meningitis aged 4 so would I have liked to have had the jab oh yes I would have loved too My advice have the jabs meningitis has changed my life

Anya, I've been on both sides of this debate. There's risk in everything. There's risk in crossing the road. It's percentages that count, & in the very very rare cases a child has been vaccine damaged then yes the authorities fess up & cough up.

My son is autistic. He was due his MMR booster when the Wakefield debacle was at its height. With no internet back then I was caught between a rock & a hard place. I didn't give him his booster. A couple of years back he asked me why, & when I explained, said, well what's wrong with being autistic? Well I have to admit, it's better than being DEAD isn't it?

Oh get the flu jab folks! Please!
I've been paying for about the last 20 years but this year - guess what? At last i qualify for a free one I've only had one "flu like illness" in all that time - there are of course some viruses that are not covered by the jab.
Swine flu affected older age groups a lot less than younger. Could have been that something similar did the rounds when we were kids - or maybe it was all the immunity built up by all those flu jabs.
If you are interested you can look on the WHO website to see which variants we are getting each year. This year it is:
It is recommended that trivalent vaccines for use in the 2016-2017 influenza season (northern hemisphere winter) contain the following:

an A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
an A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like virus;
a B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus.

I think they are named after where they are identified as a new strain.

There are loads of countries where TB is endemic and their citizens can come here. There's a list of countries whose citizens must produce certified evidence that they do not have TB before the can visit here. There are also, believe it or not, counties in the EU where TB is endemic and their citizens enjoy freedom of movement. Google TB endemic to see the list. The countries that account for 80% of the world's TB cases include several that are popular, trendy holiday destinations so make sure you're vaccinated if you like visiting far east countries...

Bebe4r2 To quote the NHS site
www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/pages/pneumococcal-vaccination.aspx
The pneumococcal vaccine protects against serious and potentially fatal pneumococcal infections. It's also known as the "pneumo jab" or pneumonia vaccine.

Pneumococcal infections are caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae and can lead to pneumonia, septicaemia (a kind of blood poisoning) and meningitis. At their worst, they can cause permanent brain damage, or even kill.

People over 65 only need a single pneumococcal vaccination, which will protect for life. It is not given annually like the flu jab.

So you gave yourself lifetime protection from a wide selection of infections. Older people are particularly vulnerable to septicaemia, especially after surgery, and one of my family, a very fit and healthy 90 year old died of septicaemia after needing surgery for a relatively minor injury following a car accident.

When you had the pneumo jab you were doing yourself a favour.

Speldnan, about Men B vaccine - my daughter just paid £180 to have my GD vaccinated as she didn't fall into the 'free' age range. Sore arm, probably because the pharmacist did it rather than the nurse who does loads. No other reaction. Booster still to come.

'Interesting thread. It's fascinating to read of people's experiences and interesting that homeopathy is now considered a 'quack' medicine. It is the same as a vaccine - treating like with like. There is so much we don't know about the human body, It's so good to read of Splednan and her daughter doing some thorough research into conventional vaccines.'

Oh dear lord. Homeopathy is in no way shape or form 'the same as a vaccine'. It is expensive water. And please, please, don't call extensive googling 'research'. As the older generation we should be supporting vaccinations not whipping up doubt about them, we are old enough to remember Iron Lungs for gods sake.

Yes we've just paid to have GD given Men.B vaccine as they fall outside the free age range.

I had a triple booster last week
I cut my hand last week. The last time I had a tetanus booster was about 35 yrs ago I think. So the nurse gave me the triple booster, because that's how the tetanus comes (not on its own).

The concern I have is that very young babies seem to be given such a cocktail of drugs at the same time.
Wouldn't it be better to separate these immunisations?
If the MMR had been offered as single doses would not more parents have taken them up? Just a thought. . .
Our DD2 has rheumatoid arthritis. She spent a year in Germany part of her degree just after the wall came down. Folks with TB were crossing the wall and spreadingTB-it was a worrying time as her immuno system is compromised both by her illness and the drugs she has to take to function. Mercifully she's OK.
Eldest DGD worked as a cleaner in local hospital and had lots of extra jabs that she wouldn't normally have had.

The fallacy that children are being given a "cocktail" of drugs unwisely is total nonsense. Each and every one of us is daily subject to millions of bugs - our bodies can deal with them.

The vaccines do not contain more harmful bugs than those around us all the time as they have been "attenuated" - i.e. their virulence has been reduced, whilst still keeping them live enough to do the job of stimulating immunity.

There is no point at all in separating the doses and it would render the programme hugely more expensive than it is now. The idea of separate doses is a total red herring - in the case of whooping cough it was being put forward by drug companies so they could make more money.

Please bear in mind that the NHS is trying very hard to save money - if immunisations did not do the job, you can bet your life they would stop giving them.