Expectant father in Germany...doc wants to know what I have been immunised against

murphaph

Hi all,
bit of an odd one maybe.

I am an expectant father in Germany (we're due in 5 weeks) and I just happened to be in the docs last week for a bad cold when he asked me about my vaccinations in Ireland (he happened to notice my pregnant girlfriend waiting for me).

He pointed out that babies cannot generate whooping cough antibodies from birth and they are not immunised against it for a while. He said it was therefore good practice for all the people in the baby's immediate environment to be 100% clear of whooping cough and asked me was I immunised against it, to which I couldn't answer!

Im Germany children get a little book with stamps and dates in it that show every vaccination you have ever received. Everyone has one, you keep it into adulthood. I don't have one and I don't think they existed when I was born (1978) so I asked the mammy. She thinks I have been immunised against TB (BCG vaccine) and against tetanus, diptheria and polio and nothing else.

I've asked her to get on to our original family doctor to see if he can shed some light on this but no harm in asking on here.

The likes of tetanus doesn't last more than 10-20 years anyway so I'm due a booster for that but I may need others so I'm trying to find out what were the "standard" vaccinations that babies born in 1978 Ireland were. Any takers?

(do we at least have a personal immunisation pass for children born these days btw?)

January

Yes, we do at least have a little booklet that the doctor records vaccinations in these days and a record is sent to a central records unit also.

Might be no harm in getting the whopping cough vaccine if your doc can offer it? Even if you have had it before.

January

Yes, we do at least have a little booklet that the doctor records vaccinations in these days and a record is sent to a central records unit also.

Might be no harm in getting the whopping cough vaccine if your doc can offer it? Even if you have had it before.

pwurple

Pertussis vaccine was in use in ireland from the early 70's but it was the whole cell one as part of a 3-in-1. Take-up from parents was low. It's a different vaccine now. Some GP's keep records that far back, some don't.

I didn't get that vaccine myself, and I was born in the 70's. I did get whooping cough itself.

See if you can get the vaccination now, or ask your mum if you had the disease. Whooping cough is rampant at the moment. I know two babies hospitalised for weeks with it. It's a fairly dangerous one for infants.

pwurple

Pertussis vaccine was in use in ireland from the early 70's but it was the whole cell one as part of a 3-in-1. Take-up from parents was low. It's a different vaccine now. Some GP's keep records that far back, some don't.

I didn't get that vaccine myself, and I was born in the 70's. I did get whooping cough itself.

See if you can get the vaccination now, or ask your mum if you had the disease. Whooping cough is rampant at the moment. I know two babies hospitalised for weeks with it. It's a fairly dangerous one for infants.

MrCreosote

If you received the ones that were available at the time, you'd have got diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough), polio and possibly the BCG depending on where you grew up.

The BCG (TB) one often leaves a scar on the upper arm if you got it there.

For measles and mumps you'd likely have got the wild disease- your mother should remember these or you can check your immunity with a blood test.

For the whooping cough it'd be worth getting a booster, as the immunity offered by the vaccine wears off. Same if you'd have the illness- it doesn't give lifelong protection. Your wife will be offered it too. You can get it as a single shot with tetanus (and diphtheria). If any grandparents are visiting for a while they should consider it too.

Lots of whooping cough around...

murphaph

Thanks a lot for helping me piece it together everyone.

Sleepy

I'd doubt you were immunised for it. I'm told my 3rd birthday (1983) was a whooping cough party so presumably they weren't immunising children for it by then or the vaccine wasn't up to much!

IvyTheTerrible

Sleepy wrote: »

I'd doubt you were immunised for it. I'm told my 3rd birthday (1983) was a whooping cough party so presumably they weren't immunising children for it by then or the vaccine wasn't up to much!

They were immunising for it but there had been a scare with that version of the vaccine, some kids were braindamaged, so a lot of parents opted out of the vaccine.

MrCreosote

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

some kids were braindamaged,

Although not from the vaccine. It was the usual dodgy research vaccine scare, with no grounding in reality and serious consequences from people not taking up the vaccine afterwards.