Me too - most health professionals prefer the vax to the disease, having seen the disease!

I am a bad seroconverter too - I had to get 6 Hep B shots and 4 Hep A shots before I seroconverted. Only had to have 2 VZV shots though (never had chickenpox).

So, it's very possible that a large number of people are walking around thinking they are vaccinated against various diseases, when in fact the vaccination hasn't 'taken'??? As a health professional you are able to access checks to see whether these jabs have worked. The public would not be offered these checks as a norm. Hmmm I didn't know that. Explains why so many people I know have contracted illnesses after supposedly being immunised.

Recently, there have been many cases of mumps and ruebella amongst vaccinated children at my 7 yr olds school.

I myself have contracted ruebella and whopping cough - despite being vaccinated against both.

Lots to ponder there.

Vaccinations provide approx 90-95% coverage, and for those people who do get the actual disease having been vaccinated, they usually get it in a much milder form. eg If I hadn't had the measles vaccination, I could easily have ended up in hospital when I caught the disease.

Thanks for that. It was a bit reassuring. I was more concerned with serious diseases like cholera and small pox when you travel to far flung places. Now I will worry that I am not immune.

Let me know if you come into contact with small pox! That would tell me that you are in the military or work in one of about 3 labs within the world

Seriously though, I really wouldn't worry! I've been to somewhere where there was cholera nearby, and also 25 miles from a place where the plague broke out 9 months earlier

LOL. When I was a kid, some small pox 'escaped' (!!) from a lab in Brum and several people in the area caught it. There was a mad panic immunisation program at our school. Not as rare as you think.....

Not much you can do about the plague but I would like to be sure I was immune from typhoid and cholera.

TB is making a come back in certain parts of our city too and I was wondering why they have stopped the BCG???

Sorry Ozzidoc - you are now running a helpline.

LOL...happy to help when I can. Caveat - I am a final year med student, which means that I'm pretty up-to-date with lots of things....but only the things that I can remember LOL.

The BCG is no longer routine because instead of providing protection for 90-95% of people who have the jab, it only covers...erm...I think 60%? I understand that's the reason that the yanks don't use it.

Given the choice, it's still a worthwhile vaccination to have if you can get it, but I think that its protection levels are too low for it to be considered suitable for mass vaccination in areas with a low prevalence/risk of the actual disease. (ie the benefit of cost to the govt/NHS vs return).

Remember too that in this day and age in the UK, one is unlikely to die from TB. It's also not as contagious as people think.

Hi I am a nurse immuniser in australia and everyday i spend vaccinating children.I can tell you that most children who immigrate from the UK require Hep b (if born after may 2000) and meningococcal c if they have been vaccinated in the UK at 2 ,3 ,4 months they will need a booster.
If your cant find a bulk billing practice to get your child immunised then some community centres run clinics and a child to the age of 15 can be vaccinated at these.

Great advice

I took my 4 year old to the doc the other day to get his immunisation record put on the Ozzie database. He got all his jabs in the UK. His UK immunisations give hime full coverage in Aus including HepB though the doctor was interested in that UK jabs are given at slightly different ages.

As for chickenpox - he has received no jab for that in the UK. The doc asked if he had contracted chickenpox and I told her no. She said that he could have the chickenpox jab but it was not compulsory in Australia for daycare and school registration. However, if we want him to have the jab we will have to pay for it as it is only covered by the health system for kids up to 18 months old. I think that we will get him the jab - I remember getting chickenpox at 14 and it was NOT funny! I am not immune BTW as a test during pregnancy showed.

If the child was born after May 2004, then they are entitled to a free chickenpox vaccine. If born before this date they can receive it free at 13 years of age through the school based programme.

Well, I got blood tests done so I could have a vax record because I'm going overseas to work for a few years. I got this done at a bulk billing clinic, so the "public" can certainly do the same.

No current vaccines offer 100% protection, so I don't think it is surprising that sometimes people catch a form of certain diseases after vaccination. As ozzidoc said, certainly it's usually a milder case when it happens (but it's not THAT common).

I did have relatively low rubella immunity on my blood tests, so they repeated my MMR jab.

We do give BCGs to high risk people such as health care workers. I never converted after that either (negative post-test Mantoux), but recently had a repeat Mantoux (15 years since my BCG!) and had a positive reaction.

I would always get any jab going, if after investigating it I was satisfied by its safety. On the other hand, my mother refused to let me have measles vax as a child because it was a live (attentuated) virus vaccine... and I promptly got measles. Doh!

Thanks for your advice. That's good to know.

I took my 4 year old for pre school booster immunisations today, and he was given Hep B as well. When I asked about my other children I was told that the 8 and 9 year olds would be given this injection in school in year 7 (2 and 3 years away), and if I wanted my 14 year old to have it I would have to pay as he missed out in year 7. It seems a bit odd to me that the middle 2 are deemed ok for the next couple of years, yet it was crucial for the 4 year old to have it today! The medical centre staff were not entirely sure about the position of the 14 year old and are checking this out for me. Does anyone know if the advice they have given me is correct, and if so how much is the immunisation likely to cost me?

My kids are 3 and 2. When we arrived last year they went onto a catch up programme. Like another post says. This isn't just about having things they haven't had in the UK but the timescales on when the jabs will be most effective. Australia believe the kids in UK have them too early.

There is a immunisation register / department here and I definitely would check it out with them. I felt so bad for my daughter as she was constantly having injections. My son was still a little bit younger so didn't quite get it all so much.

Hope this helps a bit.