Think twice about having flu (or any other) vaccines for you and/or your baby

[JackiePed]

I don't bother with flu shots. If I or someone in my family had a severely compromised immune system and was therefore in real danger from the flu, then I'd look into it, but right now I'm kinda' like... sooooo, what? We get the flu? Big deal...
Every time I'm pregnant they urge me to get it, and every year they urge to me to vaccinate my son who is mildly asthmatic...but I just don't see the point.

I'm not anti-vaccination, my kids get the 'big ones', but things like flu-shot seem completely unnecessary to me, when the flu is typically a few days of feeling yucky, but does no real damage. (YES, I know SOME people have died from the flu....but the chances of that happening to the average person without some sort of immunity disorder is about as slim as that same person having severe side-effects from the shot itself; slim.)

 

[maybe11]

I'll still be going for all vaccines offered to me and my baby once it is born. Call me stupid, but these vaccines have to go through rigorous testing to even become available. I'd rather take the vaccines and practically eradicate (or severely deminish) the risk of me or my child becoming ill. I have had all my vaccines so far in life, with no side effects so far.

Maybe you won't have side affects from it now, but later on in your life you might experience illnesses that weren't there. If you're healthy why poison yourself with vaccines.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. Did you know that there are outbreaks of measles happening where I live? Kids can DIE from this disease and it was GONE before you anti-vaxers came in and spread your propaganda. There is a reason why we don't die of polio, measles, small pox anymore, and it's because of vaccinations. Now we are seeing these diseases pop up again because of people who believe in this rubbish.

Outbreaks like these can blame anti-vaxers, as you call them, but the underlying problem can be laying in the opposite direction. Nobody will actually know why it's happening, these outbursts of illnesses. Have you read anything about pharmaceutical companies and how they're milking the nations and societies around the world? I'm studying social sciences and i did a bit of research regarding this. It's more beneficial to the world wide tycoon companies than to us, those who died from small pox years ago and now we can cure it:} I'm not saying that medicine can't help, but hey, vaccines can be avoided and cure for illnesses can still be found. Why there isn't a vaccine against cancer yet then? Wondering!

You seem to focus on companies making millions. Without vaccines, teh costs to the NHS would have a greater impact on society and the economy of our country. There is a vaccine for cervical cancer ( currently rolled out to 13+yrs). Cancer research is a SLOW process and they are concentrating on curative rather than preventative measures with the exception of social and environmental targets which have proven to link causality. Cancer and causality has been linked to hundreds of factors so a vaccine to counteract personal behaviours wont happen.!

 

[Gretaa]

I'll still be going for all vaccines offered to me and my baby once it is born. Call me stupid, but these vaccines have to go through rigorous testing to even become available. I'd rather take the vaccines and practically eradicate (or severely deminish) the risk of me or my child becoming ill. I have had all my vaccines so far in life, with no side effects so far.

Maybe you won't have side affects from it now, but later on in your life you might experience illnesses that weren't there. If you're healthy why poison yourself with vaccines.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. Did you know that there are outbreaks of measles happening where I live? Kids can DIE from this disease and it was GONE before you anti-vaxers came in and spread your propaganda. There is a reason why we don't die of polio, measles, small pox anymore, and it's because of vaccinations. Now we are seeing these diseases pop up again because of people who believe in this rubbish.

Outbreaks like these can blame anti-vaxers, as you call them, but the underlying problem can be laying in the opposite direction. Nobody will actually know why it's happening, these outbursts of illnesses. Have you read anything about pharmaceutical companies and how they're milking the nations and societies around the world? I'm studying social sciences and i did a bit of research regarding this. It's more beneficial to the world wide tycoon companies than to us, those who died from small pox years ago and now we can cure it:} I'm not saying that medicine can't help, but hey, vaccines can be avoided and cure for illnesses can still be found. Why there isn't a vaccine against cancer yet then? Wondering!

Oh my god. Pharmaceutical conspiracy theories? Vaccination against cancer? We don't know why outbreaks happen? Yes we do! Because some people refuse to immunize their children. Sorry, your views are nuts.

Being a student of social science and "a bit of research" on this doesn't make you a scientist. I am married to a biologist. All of his colleagues are biologists, some are microbiologists and immunologists. They ALL get vaccinated and are frustrated to death by this kind of conspiracy rubbish.

There is a real danger in non-scientists trying to do the work of scientists. They don't know a damn thing and scare the public into making bad decisions.

Well you are allowed to your own opinion and you don't have to offend me with words like these. It's a friendly forum, with different opinions and we're all entitled to our own views. Thank you very much

 

[carlandjane]

I'll still be going for all vaccines offered to me and my baby once it is born. Call me stupid, but these vaccines have to go through rigorous testing to even become available. I'd rather take the vaccines and practically eradicate (or severely deminish) the risk of me or my child becoming ill. I have had all my vaccines so far in life, with no side effects so far.

Maybe you won't have side affects from it now, but later on in your life you might experience illnesses that weren't there. If you're healthy why poison yourself with vaccines.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. Did you know that there are outbreaks of measles happening where I live? Kids can DIE from this disease and it was GONE before you anti-vaxers came in and spread your propaganda. There is a reason why we don't die of polio, measles, small pox anymore, and it's because of vaccinations. Now we are seeing these diseases pop up again because of people who believe in this rubbish. It's putting your own kids AND MY KIDS in danger.

Well im sorry to disagree but my best friend has 5 little girls all who have all immunisations to date and all 5 of them got quite a bad dose of measles ... Are the immunisations not sopposed to be so they dont get them ??

Also in all immunisations they are giving you a small dose of that illness etc how are you to know at all if your child will take that small dose they are injecting into him/her really bad, do u know all the ingrediants to these immunisations and their possible side effects etc??

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I will NOT be made feel bad for my decisions in life and dont think its fair your having a go at someone coz their opinion different from yours !!

I neither agree nor disagree with your personal choice, I can see perfect reason for both choices.
I do personally agree with you that your decision is your own and your opinion is just as valid as anyone elses especially if an opinion has been asked for.
I do think however that regardless of the opinion in question there will always be someone/a group of people who will strongly agree and strongly disagree - its what makes us all different and why we have the choice to begin with - yay for us all!!!

 

[bababel]

I'll still be going for all vaccines offered to me and my baby once it is born. Call me stupid, but these vaccines have to go through rigorous testing to even become available. I'd rather take the vaccines and practically eradicate (or severely deminish) the risk of me or my child becoming ill. I have had all my vaccines so far in life, with no side effects so far.

Maybe you won't have side affects from it now, but later on in your life you might experience illnesses that weren't there. If you're healthy why poison yourself with vaccines.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. Did you know that there are outbreaks of measles happening where I live? Kids can DIE from this disease and it was GONE before you anti-vaxers came in and spread your propaganda. There is a reason why we don't die of polio, measles, small pox anymore, and it's because of vaccinations. Now we are seeing these diseases pop up again because of people who believe in this rubbish. It's putting your own kids AND MY KIDS in danger.

Well im sorry to disagree but my best friend has 5 little girls all who have all immunisations to date and all 5 of them got quite a bad dose of measles ... Are the immunisations not sopposed to be so they dont get them ??

Also in all immunisations they are giving you a small dose of that illness etc how are you to know at all if your child will take that small dose they are injecting into him/her really bad, do u know all the ingrediants to these immunisations and their possible side effects etc??

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I will NOT be made feel bad for my decisions in life and dont think its fair your having a go at someone coz their opinion different from yours !!

Everyone runs the risk of having a bad reaction or not becoming immune to something they have been vaccinated against. While the VAST majority of people take well to vaccinations you can't predict the very small percentage of those who won't react well to it. Just look at any kind of medical treatment and intervention. Some people are allergic to penicillin, at the same time it's saved millions of lives. The pros outweigh the cons when it comes to immunization. We can prevent (and HAVE prevented) millions of deaths that would otherwise have happened in an unimmunized society. Just look at third world countries where huge outbreaks of very treatable diseases kill people every day. We don't have that problem...and there's a reason for it.

I wasn't having a go at her. I just see real danger in this kind of fear mongering that is not based on science, but on new age Jenny McCarthy BS. Scientists should be doing the science, not anybody else because they do not know what they are talking about. I'm not a scientist, but I will definitely listen to one over some lady with a keyboard.

 

[bubbles19]

i wont have the flu vaccine, i never get flu anyways, plus i think its such a common illness and comes in so many forms i'd rather my body and my baby built up a natural resistance for it. for instance my mother never obsessively cleaned when i was young and i hardley ever got ill and i barely get ill now except morning sickness. but my cousins mum has ocd with cleaning and all her children are constantley ill with colds. not sure if it has any correlation but it seems to have worked for me. i will vaccinate against MMR though. i just dont see the point in vaccinating against common illnesses. although if someone gave me really good reason to i may be swayed.

 

[Anna B]

I have never been offered a flu jab and I'm expecting #8

 

[xxEMZxx]

i wont have the flu vaccine, i never get flu anyways, plus i think its such a common illness and comes in so many forms i'd rather my body and my baby built up a natural resistance for it. for instance my mother never obsessively cleaned when i was young and i hardley ever got ill and i barely get ill now except morning sickness. but my cousins mum has ocd with cleaning and all her children are constantley ill with colds. not sure if it has any correlation but it seems to have worked for me. i will vaccinate against MMR though. i just dont see the point in vaccinating against common illnesses. although if someone gave me really good reason to i may be swayed.

I feel the same!

 

[carlandjane]

I think on such a heavily opinionated topic there are no right or wrong answers and noone thinks anyone is having a go at another person, we just all have opinions and we generally all think our opinion is the right one - else we wouldnt have made it. Our whole lives are based on choices. Who knows which will be the right one in the long run, afterall my mum wouldnt have known that my MMR wouldnt keep me immune forever or not or if Id get an illness regardless, she just made her own choice on the information she was given at the time, the same as we are all doing now.
If we werent allowed to make the choice we wouldnt be given the decision to make.
I think everyones decision is right because they have made it themselves, might not be the right choice for me personally but thats ok because Im making my own choice
Im an individual - just like everybody else!!!

 

[JemimaP]

I don't think flu is actually as common as people think. Often people say/believe they have had flu when they have just had a bad cold.
True flu is very serious and not something where you just feel a bit ropey for a few days.
I did hear once (not necesarrily true now) that after war & malaria its the worlds biggest killer.

xx

 

[bababel]

i wont have the flu vaccine, i never get flu anyways, plus i think its such a common illness and comes in so many forms i'd rather my body and my baby built up a natural resistance for it. for instance my mother never obsessively cleaned when i was young and i hardley ever got ill and i barely get ill now except morning sickness. but my cousins mum has ocd with cleaning and all her children are constantley ill with colds. not sure if it has any correlation but it seems to have worked for me. i will vaccinate against MMR though. i just dont see the point in vaccinating against common illnesses. although if someone gave me really good reason to i may be swayed.

I feel the same!

I like the way you ladies think. Reason-based decisions. I got my MMR vaccine a couple of months ago. That's when my nurse told me that there have been a number of cases of measles in my neighbourhood. I couldn't believe it!

 

[shanti01]

Keep the pot stirring ladies otherwise it will get burned at the bottom :-D

 

[Angua]

I don't think flu is actually as common as people think. Often people say/believe they have had flu when they have just had a bad cold.
True flu is very serious and not something where you just feel a bit ropey for a few days.
I did hear once (not necesarrily true now) that after war & malaria its the worlds biggest killer.

xx

I agree. I'm normally a very healthy person, rarely get colds but a couple of years ago I got flu. It was by far the worse I have ever felt and in no way was it like a bad cold. I physically couldn't move for several days and I don't even remember parts of it as my temperature was so high. The thought of getting that ill again whilst pregnant scares the life out of me.

I know that the chances of a otherwise fit and healthy person getting actual flu is low but honesty it is an awful thing to go through

 

[Quackquack99]

I really dislike threads like this. The majority of pregnant women are already scared of the what ifs and do not need to be further scared by 'theories'. Certain people I.e pregnant women have lower immune system therefore cannot fight the flu as well. After the first world war there was a massive outbreak of the flu where millions had died so I'm greatful for the vaccination if it prevents millions dying from. The pros outweigh the cons for myself.

 

[Quackquack99]

I don't think flu is actually as common as people think. Often people say/believe they have had flu when they have just had a bad cold.
True flu is very serious and not something where you just feel a bit ropey for a few days.
I did hear once (not necesarrily true now) that after war & malaria its the worlds biggest killer.

xx

I agree. I'm normally a very healthy person, rarely get colds but a couple of years ago I got flu. It was by far the worse I have ever felt and in no way was it like a bad cold. I physically couldn't move for several days and I don't even remember parts of it as my temperature was so high. The thought of getting that ill again whilst pregnant scares the life out of me.

I know that the chances of a otherwise fit and healthy person getting actual flu is low but honesty it is an awful thing to go through

I agree, I got a bad case of the flu last year and it was the worst I have ever felt in my life so I got the flu jab.

 

[Mrs HM]

I'll be getting the flu vaccine. My family is full of doctors and my DH is a pharmaceutical chemist and not once have I been advised against having the vaccine, not by one doctor, midwife or other medically-trained person.

Last year in the UK 600 people died from flu. My friend is a nurse and she was shocked by how many young, fit and healthy people were admitted to her hospital last year with the flu, so I'm happy to do anything I can to keep both me and baby healthy.

 

[MummytoSummer]

Id already decided not to get any of the flu vaccines offered to me. I didn't with my daughter when the swine flu vaccine was also offered and I'm choosing the same option this time.

It's definitely a really personal choice. I always remember what my midwife said to me during my last pregnancy. She said that personally she doesn't advise her ladies to get any kind of flu jabs unless theyre usually susceptible to flu or usually have the vaccine. She also said if and when her own daughters fall pregnant she would advise them against it.

I know the vaccines go through a lot of testing but for me it's not the right choice. I totally get why others choose to have it though. I still chose to have my daughter vaccined against all available vaccines though and will do the same for this baby when he/she arrives.

X

 

[Girlnextdoor]

I don't bother with flu shots. If I or someone in my family had a severely compromised immune system and was therefore in real danger from the flu, then I'd look into it, but right now I'm kinda' like... sooooo, what? We get the flu? Big deal...
Every time I'm pregnant they urge me to get it, and every year they urge to me to vaccinate my son who is mildly asthmatic...but I just don't see the point.

I'm not anti-vaccination, my kids get the 'big ones', but things like flu-shot seem completely unnecessary to me, when the flu is typically a few days of feeling yucky, but does no real damage. (YES, I know SOME people have died from the flu....but the chances of that happening to the average person without some sort of immunity disorder is about as slim as that same person having severe side-effects from the shot itself; slim.)

I feel EXACTLY the same way. My son has had all of his vaccinations except for chicken pox and he has never had a flu shot (although he did have the Swine Flu shot last year after his school was in the middle of an outbreak and started pressuring all the kids to get them). I am very healthy, as is my son, and I have no doubts that neither of us will die from the flu

I also regret getting him the swine flu vax, but fell to the pressure of my husband and the media propaganda. 9 kids out of 16 kids from his class got the swine flu all at the same time and were all out for a few days and then they were ALL back to school. I was living in The Netherlands at the time, where they are very laid back, and only 1 of the 9 kids with the swine flu was given antivirals. The other fought it off with no problems. His school had a huge outbreak, it was amazing how many of the students were gone from school (I would guess 50%). None of them died, nor were even hospitalized.

 

[Msocwife]

This definitely is a polarizing topic, and everyone is entitled to their own opinions on what they do with their bodies. I for one will be getting it, as I work in a hospital and there are far too many sick people around on a daily basis for me to leave myself (and little one) open to risk. I'm a believer that there are a lot of medications/vaccinations that probably arent necessary and may infact be found later in the years to be linked to illness/allergy/whatever...but at the same time it's a proven fact that they do protect from the serious illness that they're intended to, and in a world where there are so many unknowns and so many people sick with SO many different things at any given time (and a fully history of outbreaks of different illness- look at countries that don't get vaccines), i'll take the protection.

 

[katieeandbump]

I'm having mine, as if I got swine flu or any other type of flu with my heart problems and asthma and being pregnant I would deffinately be one of the unfortunate ones! Even a cold I can barely breathe! But if I was completely risk free I'm not sure if I still would... But like someones said about people having side affects, I am alergic to penicillin and ibroprofen and both of these drugs pull me into shock, and the flu jab did nothing I think I'd blame myself if I was to get ill knowing I could of had the jab! Each to their own though eh I can see valid points from each side, but with anything in life there's always dangers and in this case I think the benefits outweigh the dangers. Or should I say I believe there's more danger to getting the flu than having the jab x