Vaccines and autism

tinkerbell

Millem wrote: »

I never knew you could get vaccinated against chicken pox! Again I remember my mother getting us to play with kids who had it so would catch it!
I must ask about that vaccination

It's actually combined with the MMR in some countries now (called MMRV) - they really should introduce it here but apparently won't because of cost. Think the MMRV is available in the US, Germany, etc. You can get the vaccine for chicken pox once they are over 12 months.

Sligo1

Millem wrote: »

I never knew you could get vaccinated against chicken pox! Again I remember my mother getting us to play with kids who had it so would catch it!
I must ask about that vaccination

It's not on the vaccine schedule. But most GPs will give it if you ask. One of the reasons I got it was through work. I wasn't allowed to take patients that presented with shingles as I wasn't immune. Adult Shingles can be sooo much worse than CP.

Millem

Sligo1 wrote: »

I wonder if you have the CP vaccine, however still contract CP, if the dose you get would be less severe as you have some immunity or antibodies against it? Anyone know? I might ask in work or the next time I'm at my GP.

I hate to compare babies with dogs but I get my dogs vaccinated against kennel cough. One of them had it when she arrived to us (it was horrendous) and has since caught it again but it was only very very mild.
Maybe with babies it works the same?

I hated having chicken pox

Sligo1

Millem wrote: »

I hate to compare babies with dogs but I get my dogs vaccinated against kennel cough. One of them had it when she arrived to us (it was horrendous) and has since caught it again but it was only very very mild.
Maybe with babies it works the same?

I hated having chicken pox

See the logic follows

Millem

Sligo1 wrote: »

It's not on the vaccine schedule. But most GPs will give it if you ask. One of the reasons I got it was through work. I wasn't allowed to take patients that presented with shingles as I wasn't immune. Adult Shingles can be sooo much worse than CP.

A man I work with had shingles during the summer and he told me he still is not 100% after it
So if you get chicken pox can you still get shingles?
Also I remember reading something about some meningitis vacc. I must ask about that too but it's €350ish.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

My mam swears that I never had CP as a child but I must have because I got shingles a few years ago. Symptom-wise I wasn't too ill at the time but jesus, for the next year I was constantly exhausted and achey, seriously run down and I caught every cold/virus/sickness going. It took a long time and a lot of tonics and vitamins to get me back to normal. Awful dose

angeldelight

Millem wrote: »

A man I work with had shingles during the summer and he told me he still is not 100% after it
So if you get chicken pox can you still get shingles?
Also I remember reading something about some meningitis vacc. I must ask about that too but it's €350ish.

You can't catch shingles from someone else but if you haven't had chicken pox you can catch it from someone with shingles as it's the same virus. Once you've had CP the virus never leaves your system, it lies dormant and if you're unlucky enough will reappear later in life as shingles

lazygal

There is a menb vaccine, two shots. We got it after the chicken pox vaccines. If my gp refused to administer what's a standard vaccine in other countries such as chicken pox I'd take my children and business elsewhere.

seventeen sheep

The thing about the chicken pox vaccine - I had been fully planning on getting it if I was able to, however my son caught chicken pox when he was only around nine months, so too young for the vaccine. It was a very mild dose, and luckily enough he recovered quickly with minimal discomfort and no scarring.

So I've since had a couple of people say to me, "Isn't it just as well that you never got the vaccine, when it barely affected him anyways?" What? I didn't (and couldn't) know if he was going to be one of the lucky ones, or one of the ones who ended up seriously ill, or one of the ones who were left with permanent scarring. If I had another child, I'd still be planning on getting the vaccine if possible - just because we got off so lightly with him, it doesn't mean we'd be that lucky next time around. Why take the risk when it's avoidable?

Re. the MenB vaccine, I wonder if there's any chance it might be covered by VHI? I assume I can claim tax back on it at least. I think I read above that the price was €360, is that just the vaccine, excluding the cost of the two GP visits? I'm pretty sure I'll be getting that one for him, I hate the thoughts of him ending up in hospital with something I could have avoided for him.

Roesy

Myself and two of my brothers had chicken pox at the same time. My mother still shudders thinking of how badly I got it. I had internally and in my eyes! My brothers were grand. Same thing when my nephews caught it. Two were fine, one was literally covered. He wasn't right for weeks. My practice nurse who administers the vaccines at our gps wouldn't even discuss the chicken pox vaccine with me, told me I'd have to make an appointment with the gp but more or less implied it was childhood rite of passage.

Julo12

Roesy wrote: »

Myself and two of my brothers had chicken pox at the same time. My mother still shudders thinking of how badly I got it. I had internally and in my eyes! My brothers were grand. Same thing when my nephews caught it. Two were fine, one was literally covered. He wasn't right for weeks. My practice nurse who administers the vaccines at our gps wouldn't even discuss the chicken pox vaccine with me, told me I'd have to make an appointment with the gp but more or less implied it was childhood rite of passage.

My gp is on maternity leave and her cover said the same to me. It's a mild illness so why bother with the vaccine... She also had never heard of the meningitis ones that my own gp had told me about... Is there no requirement for continued training for gps??
I didn't vaccinate my first for cp and luckily she got a mild enough dose when she was almost 1 but after reading more about it since I'm thinking I should vaccinate this one.

bovril

lazygal wrote:

There is a menb vaccine, two shots.

depends on the age of the baby/child. Our baby is 3 months and needs 3 shots before 6 months and then a booster at 12 months. If baby is over 6 months it's two shots and booster. The info is on the HSE website. Each shot is costing us 210e for the men b!! We were told the carriage alone is 50e. It's very expensive.

lazygal

Mine got two shots. My gp recommended it be administered two months after the cp vaccine. I never heard of three shots, and several other parents I know got it. I'd also shop around, I paid less than that and I heard of some people who paid about €120 a go.

bovril

lazygal wrote:

Mine got two shots. My gp recommended it be administered two months after the cp vaccine. I never heard of three shots, and several other parents I know got it. I'd also shop around, I paid less than that and I heard of some people who paid about €120 a go.

Maybe the 3 shots are new but it definitely says it on the HSE website if you are vaccinating a baby under 6 months old. Here is the page and the info is in the FAQ PDF

http://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/hcpinfo/OtherVaccines/MenB/

Very interesting about the cost. I wonder how there is such a huge difference. I've been quoted almost twice the price you have. I'll ask for a breakdown of the costs next time I'm my surgery.

OT but did your baby get a high temp afterwards? From that FAQ doc I read the risk of high temp with the men b vaccine to be higher than the other vaccines.

kandr10

seventeen sheep wrote: »

The thing about the chicken pox vaccine - I had been fully planning on getting it if I was able to, however my son caught chicken pox when he was only around nine months, so too young for the vaccine. It was a very mild dose, and luckily enough he recovered quickly with minimal discomfort and no scarring.

So I've since had a couple of people say to me, "Isn't it just as well that you never got the vaccine, when it barely affected him anyways?" What? I didn't (and couldn't) know if he was going to be one of the lucky ones, or one of the ones who ended up seriously ill, or one of the ones who were left with permanent scarring. If I had another child, I'd still be planning on getting the vaccine if possible - just because we got off so lightly with him, it doesn't mean we'd be that lucky next time around. Why take the risk when it's avoidable?

Re. the MenB vaccine, I wonder if there's any chance it might be covered by VHI? I assume I can claim tax back on it at least. I think I read above that the price was €360, is that just the vaccine, excluding the cost of the two GP visits? I'm pretty sure I'll be getting that one for him, I hate the thoughts of him ending up in hospital with something I could have avoided for him.

Apparently not as it's an elective thing - but no harm to check with your insurer.
Re cost : our practice nurse told us a few people had asked about it and they're inquiring to see if they can get a better price ordering 'in bulk' as it were. I guess if they have to order single doses it's more expensive.

Edit to add: she also told us she's seen kids far worse with men b than chickenpox as in it's far more serious if they do get it, whereas chickenpox for many if not all isn't that serious. She therefore advised that we prioritise it over chickenpox if cost was an issue.

lazygal

No illl affects beyond a long nap. Mine were well over a year getting it so maybe that made a difference. I definitely know others got two shots.

fastnorte

Measles outbreak in Florida

Recent outbreak of measles caused by non-vaccinated children who had visited Disneyland in Florida
reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. See here:
cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html
for more info before you think about visiting Disneyland.

Slán

contrary_mary

The men b schedule depends on what age you start at. I started my lad at 2 months so he needed 3 at 2, 4 and 6 months and will have a booster once he's a year. If you start at 6 months it's 2 shots and a booster. If you start over a year it's just 2 shots. I started my guy early as menb is most risky to those under one. It's also the schedule being used in Australia, UK etc. A dose of calpol is recommended in the 30 mins before administration (unlike other vaccines where this is not advised).

Each vaccine should cost you approx €130 - if you are being charged more than that shop around. My GP did it for free but she's a star!

Neyite

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/roald-dahls-heartbreaking-letter-in-support-of-vaccination-h

Sligo1

This was on my Facebook this morning.
It's about Roald dahls letter that was wrote to his 7 year old daughter who contracted measles and died. The letter/story is being re-released in the wake of the outbreak in California in the hope it will encourage parents to vaccinate. It's quite heartbreaking. I've posted a smallish quote from it but the link has more information.

Roald Dahl wrote:

"Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn't do anything.

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"'Are you feeling all right?' I asked her.

"'I feel all sleepy,' she said.

"In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead.

"The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. That was twenty-four years ago in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her.

"On the other hand, there is today something that parents can do to make sure that this sort of tragedy does not happen to a child of theirs. They can insist that their child is immunised against measles. I was unable to do that for Olivia in 1962 because in those days a reliable measles vaccine had not been discovered. Today a good and safe vaccine is available to every family and all you have to do is to ask your doctor to administer it."

Sligo1

http://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/inspire-me/65710664/Roald-Dahls-heartbreaking-letter-becomes-measles-vaccination-call-to-arms

http://io9.com/read-roald-dahls-heart-rending-endorsement-of-measles-v-1682995322

pwurple

It's sad that it takes infections and deaths.

Even when you compare the panic over Ebola. Ebola is serious enough, action plans, worldwide news bulletins about a single patient in europe or the US.

But the interesting part is that Ebola has a reproduction number of about 1.5... which is the average number of people a single patient will likely infect. HIV is 2, Hep C is 4. All scary enough.

Measles has reproduction number of 18!

Sligo1

Neyite wrote: »

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/roald-dahls-heartbreaking-letter-in-support-of-vaccination-h

I see you beat me to it

kunst nugget

pwurple wrote: »

Even when you compare the panic over Ebola. Ebola is serious enough, action plans, worldwide news bulletins about a single patient in europe or the US.

But the interesting part is that Ebola has a reproduction number of about 1.5... which is the average number of people a single patient will likely infect. HIV is 2, Hep C is 4. All scary enough.

Measles has reproduction number of 18!

The panic over Ebola is ridiculous when you put it into context with something like Malaria which is responsible for nearly a million deaths a year and that according to an article in the Wall Street Journal:

The malaria parasite has been responsible for half of all human deaths since the Stone Age

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704111704575354911834340450

angeldelight

Did everyone here have the whooping cough vaccine while pregnant? I'm very pro-vaccination but my consultant has said she's not convinced by this one

Sligo1

angeldelight wrote: »

Did everyone here have the whooping cough vaccine while pregnant? I'm very pro-vaccination but my consultant has said she's not convinced by this one

I didnt.

lazygal

I got it during my second pregnancy. My consultant was in favour of it and said it was recommended by the HSE. That was 18 months ago, and I think there may have been some cases at the time.

Jerrica

angeldelight wrote: »

I'm very pro-vaccination but my consultant has said she's not convinced by this one

What's she "not convinced" about?? It confers immunity to a newborn and is low risk, not sure what more convincing she might need tbh I got it and didn't think twice.

cyning

angeldelight wrote: »

Did everyone here have the whooping cough vaccine while pregnant? I'm very pro-vaccination but my consultant has said she's not convinced by this one

No: my specialist felt that vaccinations were too much of a risk in my case because even regular folic acid inhibited the absorption of my thyroid medicines. Couldn't have the flu one either. It was a very specific set of circumstances, and I would have had otherwise.

mirrorwall14

Yes flu and whooping cough. anything that is low risk and gives immunity to a new born is a good thing in my eyes. Plus I'm asthmatic so flu vaccine is a necessity anyways