Professional Princess

Spot on there and very well put.

I think Dr Wakefield was on the verge of uncovering something quite big and had to be stopped.

My husband took part in some medical research to try and find out about the severity of his allergy to grass.

A well known research company found out his allergy to grass was more than double of what it should be and then proceeded to inject him with a large does of allergen.

He had a full blown reaction and needed oxygen, adrenaline and nebulisers and steroids.

He was sent home with no doctors letter no nothing.

Sometimes when someone is dangerously allerigic to something, each subsequent exposure will be worse than the last.

He is now on lifetime of antihistamines, and cannot go a day without taking them.

When we went back to see the doctor, they had 'lost his notes and all details about him'.

This was for a drug company.

Huge financial benefits are incentive for giving vaccines, and like you, I think that by the time enough scientific evidence is gathered on side effects, it is too late for many.

Yes, this evidence is vital for the future of medicine, but not at the expense of babies and at the guilt trip of trying to pursuade a mum to go against her gut instincts.

Scientifically we think we have cracked it and we can guarantee the jabs are safe.

Realistically, we haven't.

Time will tell.

BAY

It is not true to say the Dr. had his work discredited. There were a few things where there may have been a conflict of interests in the research. His work was then 'smeared' as is the hallmark of New Labour !

To say there is no link between Autism and the MMR is VERY different to saying therefore MMR is safe and does not cause Autism. However, this is what the Government are trying to say. Just because there is 'not' 100% proof is NOT the same as saying therefore it is safe.

Think of smoking and cancer. They tried to tell us many years ago that smoking did not cause cancer.

I go with the line that its better to be safe than sorry. For that reason my kids have had seperate jabs.

sloake

Due to people not having their children properly innoculated, there is now a mumps outbreak at a number of UK Univerisities.

This means a number of people will be effected by this, because mothers have decided that despite years of practise, investigation and proof.. they know better than a whole world of doctors.

If I said chocolate will cause you to be fat... are you all going to stop feeding chocolate to your kids?

I understand the fear that parents have, but look at the facts.. statistics.. not just random hearsay..

not getting your children innoculated effects a lot of other people..

Professional Princess

You cant compare the MMR vaccine to chocolate.

Its not that mums are claiming to know more than doctors, but what they do know is what has happened to their children.

They are not saying not to vaccinate, they want to excercise their right to have single jabs for their kids.

I work in a hospital and know doctors that wouldnt give that to their kids although they wouldnt speak out publicly for fear of backlash.

The 'experts' may say that MMR has no link at all to Autism, but they cannot completely say it hasn't either.

And I think the mums of children that have suffered either coincidently or not from the MMR jab, would beg to differ.

sloake

I apoligise I was being flippant with the Chocolate remark

but what annoys me.. is after years of stress free innoculations.. 1 report says it caused Autism..

then all of a sudden.. Mothers are prepared to listen to this 1 piece of news and ignore all the other reports..

I know adults who have had mumps.. its not nice..

I also know of children in the UK how have now had German Measles (hes aged 7..) its not nice..its even more annoying to know that it could have been avoided...

Professional Princess

My office manager had the single vaccine for her kids.

I think vaccines are a good idea and kiddies should be done without a doubt.

But with single vaccines.

sloake

Good for her..but I hope she paid for them herself

A major factor at the moment, is some people who cant afford to pay for the private single injections..are not having them...

this means that a larger number of people are not innoculated against preventable diseases.. causing others to be infected..

The NHS is there for treatment at the point of supply... if people choose to ignore medical advice why should tax payers pay for expenisive single injections when one will do.

I agree if people have brought into this "whole hearsay..we know better than real doctors..hey we are medically qualified and disagree" should have the right to buy single injections...but I anit paying for it...

also what about suing the idiot who put the report out that caused this panic..can we sue him for the Mumps outbreak at UK Unis?

Professional Princess

I think they should pay for it too.

The NHS offers what it can in the UK and if it doesnt suit, then you have to pay for alternatives.

Did you read in the paper of the mum who had booked her kids single jabs privately and went for a check up at the GP's.

She had expressed her view that her child wasn't to have the MMR.

The GP told the nurse to 'give it anyway' and the child was vaccinated.

Dont know the ins and outs of it but that was wrong. Makes you wonder who is in charge.

She was happy to pay for it, I think they have to pay for single jabs here anyway, but to do that was an assault.

I would have sued her arse off for that.

I also think that mums shouldnt be bullied by healthcare professionals into having it.

I think they should be strongly advised to vaccinate and told they will have to get single jabs done privately.

But not to bully them into doing it.

If a mum has her kid vaccinated with single jabs, it should have no effect on the GP other than a possible financial one.

The main thing I suppose is that the child is protected.

Shit, my pal has just put some chocolates in front of me with a cup of tea.

Should I be strong?

Bugger it, now I am going to eat it.

sloake

I agree with choice and the incident you give is a bit outrageous.. but what about the people who may contract a disease because of some mothers well meaning misbeliefs.. do they get to sue the childs mother..

vacination has to be at a certain % point for everyone to be safe.. who do we sue/ pick on.. for people who are now getting mumps. measles etc because of one bad report.

Personally I think parents should look at ALL reports..and not just one report.. I understand the fear parents have (hey I have nephews and nieces..and yes I do love them as much as my own ... before that argument starts) but its one report.. and even then the figures were so low..

personally if I ever met the idiot who made this research up.. and the idiots in media which keep repeating it. I will seriously give him a good kicking

joveazey

I was very worried about the MMR. My little boy is now 18 months and eventually after lots of stressing, we had the MMR when he was 13 months as recommended. My neighbour is a midwife and although she would obviously be on the same side as the NHS, she said that if it was her child she would have it. I then asked my aunt who has always worked for charities (Cancer Research, but now the Autism Society) and she had both of her boys vaccinated with MMR. That was good enough for me, she is a very fussy mother, the sort who researches everything. Like someone said before, it is only the last few years that Autism has been linked to MMR. Howcome if it's something to do with the jab, there was nothing about it before ? It's been used for nearly 20 years. I think areas and environment must have something to do with certain diseases, ie. the Thames Valley has the highest number of people with MS - howcome ? This disease is not even heard of in tropical countries.

Jo

tiredwithtwins

I think this sentence hits the nail on the head.

As the mother of 3 children (and a nurse) I felt it important to get my 3 fully vaccinated, and I beleive what colleagues have told me that the vaccination is fairly safe - many doctors i know have had thier kids vaccinated.
Thing is, one of my sons suffers from a vaso-vagal reaction every time he has an injection - basically he goes into cardio-respiratory arrest if he doesnt get the correct treatment (oxygen, adrenaline) at the time of vaccinating - to have single vaccines would increase the number of times he had to go through this.
Do I risk him not having any, or do i risk him getting mumps, measles or rubella? Having had rubella as a child, I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy - I was incredibly sick and spent a couple of days in hospital due to dehydration. again, more needles - do i risk that?

anyway, all 3 are fully vaccinated, i took the risk.

Incidentally, I do know of someone who said her son developed very slowly, and then when he had his mmr she had a convenient scapegoat to blame. To this day she still blames the mmr, despite many of us knowing he was already displaying autistic traits before it.
Some people are unbeleivable.
Needless to say, shes not my friend now.

Amazulu

I know this is an emotive issue & every parent must make their own decision & live with the consequences. We gave our son the mmr for the following reasons:

My wife's best friend from school is a doctor & she said it is safe & gave us some info to back it up (not from the Daily Mail),
I emailed my family doctor in South Africa, whom I trust, & he told me it is safe,
So, 2 doctors that I can trust, told us it was safe,
One of the single jabs was not readily available at the time, this might have changed now,
One of the single jabs was of questionable qualilty, it was manufactured in Eastern Europe, again this may have changed now,
This only seems to be an issue in the UK, the rest of the world, including the USA & Australia has no problem with the mmr,
Also, the cost of the single jabs, some clinics are cashing in on this scare & charging too much. We were quoted an horrendous figure, I know money shouldn't be a factor, but these guys were taking the p*ss.

Like I said, everyone must make their own decision.

Professional Princess

Thats what I think. Noone but noone has the right to bully a parent into doing what is right for their child.

As Tiredwithtwins said, her case was different because her child reacts to injections.

Each case on its merits.

Its wrong that clinics are cashing in on it, but if parents are prepared to pay, then that is up to them.

I went to my doctor for my jabs and they wouldnt do them all on the same day due to potential side effects.

Says it all really.

I don't always go on what someone tells me because they are a nurse or doctor though, even if they are a friend/colleague.

As one doctor said to me, 'we believe what we are taught.'

My mum said to me 'I believe what I see'.

Says alot when there are doctors out there that wouldnt vaccinate with MMR and are too scared of backlash to speak out.

But thank God that parents are able to make their own informed decision even if it comes with a bit of bullying.

Professional Princess

I don't know if its the same, but when I did my vet nurse training, the vaccines would change from year to year. Some years they could cause an animal to be really ill, some reacted to them severely. Some years would have no effect.

I read some papers on studies about vaccines and it said 'change your vaccine brand with caution'.

I realise this is children we are talking about (before anyone points it out), but I do wonder if the principal is the same.

There is so much we don't know about science.

There are always tablets being taken off the market because someone has realised they are not safe.

Medicine is a minefield and we should tread very carefully.

sloake

And what about all the doctors who do vaccinate and dont need to feel to scaremonger?

I think there are probably are whole lot more of them...