Lisa I think around 2003/4 the Wakefield stuff was finally discredited. My eldest had to have her MMR right in the middle of all that, but I read up as much as I could at the time and concluded I'd rather risk autism then measles. One of the key things was that autism appeared after the MMR but apparently it also manifests itself usually around the 13-15th month phase which is the time they give the MMR, so who's to say whether it would happen anyway. 1 in 100 000 chance of fitting after injection, 1 in 10 000 after having measles - I think if memory serves - anyway sufficient odds to think it not worth not having. Also when no 2 in hospital around the same time read a very sobering piece on the wall in the children's ward by Roald Dahl about his daughter dying from encephalitis of the brain after contracting measles aged 7. Quite heart rending. That decided me actually!
The jab I am most vexed about at the moment is the BCG which is no longer given automatically round here,if you have parents born in the UK who've been immunised. However in London boroughs it is still given. Funnily enough most of our children go to London from time to time. Do you think those nice TB bugs will avoid them because they know they come from Surrey? Given the profession my husband has chances are he gets exposed to it constantly (my sis contracted it when she was a nurse even with the BCG). So I am about to do battle to get my eldest immunised on the grounds that she's at risk. In a few years time suddenly we'll have an epidemic and everyone will say, doh???
And don't get me started on the cervical cancer one...
(Sorry Lisa, you accidentally tripped a nerve there!)
Jane the wakefield stuff has also been replicated in other studies. the current news in the states is a cluster of highly vaccinated Somali refugee's in Minnesota, autism rates are 1 in 25 for these kids http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/11/david-kirby-o-2.html
Sorry hope I didn't mean to imply that anyone worried about the autism link shouldn't be. My understanding was that Wakefield didn't use sufficiently rigorous scientific principles in his research, hence his work being discredited. I can completely understand why people would have chosen not to give their children the MMR eleven years ago - I very nearly didn't, but I read as much as I could about it and also consulted plenty of health professionals and came to the conclusion that on balance it was worth the risk. Lisa, I think one of the reasons the measles rate has also risen is that if you do opt to have the MMR as separate injections the child has to have each one two or three times, and people often forget to go for the follow up, particularly the crucial preschool booster.
I wouldn't take issue with anyone not having the MMR, but I do think it is important to innoculate your children against measles particularly, which can be very nasty (I can still remember how ill I felt when I had it aged 6) and potentially fatal. It was the potential fatality aspect of it which made up my mind in favour of the MMR. But to each their own.
4 comments:
Lisa I think around 2003/4 the Wakefield stuff was finally discredited. My eldest had to have her MMR right in the middle of all that, but I read up as much as I could at the time and concluded I'd rather risk autism then measles. One of the key things was that autism appeared after the MMR but apparently it also manifests itself usually around the 13-15th month phase which is the time they give the MMR, so who's to say whether it would happen anyway. 1 in 100 000 chance of fitting after injection, 1 in 10 000 after having measles - I think if memory serves - anyway sufficient odds to think it not worth not having. Also when no 2 in hospital around the same time read a very sobering piece on the wall in the children's ward by Roald Dahl about his daughter dying from encephalitis of the brain after contracting measles aged 7. Quite heart rending. That decided me actually!
The jab I am most vexed about at the moment is the BCG which is no longer given automatically round here,if you have parents born in the UK who've been immunised. However in London boroughs it is still given. Funnily enough most of our children go to London from time to time. Do you think those nice TB bugs will avoid them because they know they come from Surrey? Given the profession my husband has chances are he gets exposed to it constantly (my sis contracted it when she was a nurse even with the BCG). So I am about to do battle to get my eldest immunised on the grounds that she's at risk. In a few years time suddenly we'll have an epidemic and everyone will say, doh???
And don't get me started on the cervical cancer one...
(Sorry Lisa, you accidentally tripped a nerve there!)
Rant away my dear! And apologies to your offspring who had my earlier attempt to chat online...
Jane
the wakefield stuff has also been replicated in other studies. the current news in the states is a cluster of highly vaccinated Somali refugee's in Minnesota, autism rates are 1 in 25 for these kids
http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/11/david-kirby-o-2.html
Sorry hope I didn't mean to imply that anyone worried about the autism link shouldn't be. My understanding was that Wakefield didn't use sufficiently rigorous scientific principles in his research, hence his work being discredited. I can completely understand why people would have chosen not to give their children the MMR eleven years ago - I very nearly didn't, but I read as much as I could about it and also consulted plenty of health professionals and came to the conclusion that on balance it was worth the risk. Lisa, I think one of the reasons the measles rate has also risen is that if you do opt to have the MMR as separate injections the child has to have each one two or three times, and people often forget to go for the follow up, particularly the crucial preschool booster.
I wouldn't take issue with anyone not having the MMR, but I do think it is important to innoculate your children against measles particularly, which can be very nasty (I can still remember how ill I felt when I had it aged 6) and potentially fatal. It was the potential fatality aspect of it which made up my mind in favour of the MMR. But to each their own.
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