Flu Vaccine for my 5 year old

[bluecathy1978]

My 5 year old has been given a consent form to have the flu vaccine at school (the nasal one) but it does say that he cannot have contact with people who are in the at risk group. I presume a pregnant woman with getstational diabetes come under this category?

I havent been offered the flu vaccine myself but would not have it anyway as I have had it in pregnancy before and ended up delivering a pre term, low birth weight baby and sufferign pre eclampsia and that is the only thing I did differently in my pregnancy than any of my others.
I also have a 1 year old, 2 year old and 4 year old and they have not been offered the vaccine either.

I worry that if my son has it and gets ill as it is a live vaccine then the smaller ones will get it too and I may even contract it and being near the end of my pregnancy I do not want to risk it. I have heard from lots of people saying how ill their child has been after having the vaccine. The school cannot tell me either when the vaccination will be given as they have not been told yet so I can't really plan anything ie contact my gp to try and arrange vaccination for my smaller ones.

With all this to consider, I have decided to decline my consent but I feel terribly guilty at doing so as if he gets ill after not being vaccinated then it will break my heart. Saying that, it also only has a 55% efficiency rate as the flu mutates so quickly. My head hurts trying to process it all!!!

 

[Mrs_Bump]

My husband and I are both considered at risk, me being pregnant and he having a serious auto immune condition. When he went to be vaccinated the nurse advised it would be best to get our toddler vaccinated too. If you aren't sure then I would speak to a healthcare professional as advice may vary depending on your individual circumstances.

 

[MindUtopia]

All kids 2-4 years and then in school years 1 and 2 are offered the nasal flu vaccine in the UK. So your 2 and 4 year old are also eligible and recommended to get it as well and it's free for them at your GP surgery (usually they have one or more flu clinics in October, but you can also book a private appt if you can't make that). Just because it's a live vaccine doesn't mean him (or any of them) getting it puts anyone at risk. A healthy unvaccinated person generally can't get the flu from someone who's had a live flu vaccine. It does happen in very rare cases, but it would only be in the case of people who are severely immunocompromised (like they are going through chemo or have an immune deficiency syndrome of some sort). It's more of a myth that's held over from long ago and from other variants of live vaccines, from which regular people could get sick. So the risk groups they're referring to in the letter you got would be those folks who are at risk from immune system problem, not people normally considered at risk for the flu, like pregnant women. In theory, being surrounded by more people who are vaccinated will significantly reduce your risk of getting the flu even if you choose not to get the jab while you're pregnant, so technically, it's safer for them to all get it if you're choosing not to during your pregnancy because it will keep you and your baby safer from flu complications if you aren't comfortable with vaccination yourself (also would help prevent your 1 year old from getting it, who wouldn't be eligible yet). The good thing about the nasal spray vaccine is that it actually works better than the injectable one, so more likely to prevent infection (last year's injectable vaccine especially didn't work well because they got the prediction of the dominant strains wrong). And it doesn't contain any preservatives, which is always what everyone is concerned about when it comes to the safety of vaccines.

 

[suzanne108]

I also declined the flu vaccine for my 5 year old & felt guilty on the day of taking in the form but I still think I made the right decision. I have since found out that quite a few of her year group declined it.

 

[bluecathy1978]

It did mention that people who are diabetic are in the at risk category and I have gestational diabetes so I have a double whammy. Any other time and I would have had it done.

 

[bluecathy1978]

A lot of the children in my sons class have also declined it bit there are a lot of muslim children and it contains pork gelatine and that is why x

 

[jlw617]

Keep in mind the flu vaccine is not guaranteed to protect your little guy and there are so many different strains that again he is not guaranteed to be protected, I don't say that to scare you but to help you to not feel guilty, btw I have an almost 9 yr old And almost 6 yr old and we've never had the flu vaccine

 

[catmummyof4]

I accepted it and if u go drs u can book some th others in i had to i also hav a 2 & 3 yr old x

 

[2have4kids]

A lot of the children in my sons class have also declined it bit there are a lot of muslim children and it contains pork gelatine and that is why x

Pork gelatine? Where did you get this information? I had gestational diabetes and was advised to get everyone vaccinated in the house. I got my vaccinations before I got pregnant. The risk of getting sick due to unvaccinated people is much much higher than having a less than 1% complication from the vaccine itself. I'd stick to whatever medical advise you have been given and do what they suggest.

 

[WW1]

A lot of the children in my sons class have also declined it bit there are a lot of muslim children and it contains pork gelatine and that is why x

Pork gelatine? Where did you get this information? I had gestational diabetes and was advised to get everyone vaccinated in the house. I got my vaccinations before I got pregnant. The risk of getting sick due to unvaccinated people is much much higher than having a less than 1% complication from the vaccine itself. I'd stick to whatever medical advise you have been given and do what they suggest.

It's on the NHS website in the FAQs. I was surprised as well but it does contain gelatine. Doesn't impact on my decision. My 5 year old will be having it.