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Don't want to debate - I want to vaccinate, but not sure how


Tohru
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I know this is a really sensitive subject and I don't want to turn this into a debate.  I just want to get some advise on how to proceed.

 

My children are older than the suggested vaccine schedule - one is a todder and the other is school aged.  I'd like to get them a few selected vaccines, however I'm really not sure how to go about it. 

 

We don't have a regular doctor because ours closed practice awhile back and the new one we've seen once does not offer vaccinations, however tells us we can go to the health department if we want them.  The problem is we're in a different county and I'm not sure where the health department is, or how they'll feel about us only wanting a few of the vaccines rather than all, or what they'll say or do because we haven't had any yet.

I'm never in the mood for guilt and don't want to hear any more "education" about vaccines.

 

My question is, would you trust a walk-in pharmacy such as Walgreens that offers vaccinations for your young children?  I'm considering polio and tetanus and then later MMR (although I just want ruebella but heard it isn't available separate anymore.)  Because they're older, will they need all those extra boosters?

 

Thanks in advance.

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The public health clinic will help you. Google your nearest location, and call in advance about getting your kids on schedule. Ask about their policy regarding selective vaccines. Whatever place you choose make sure you get copies of the immunization record. Sorry, but be prepared for some eyerolls and or guilt provoking questions. It's the nature of the beast. Good luck

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I delay vaccines and have not yet been made to feel guilty or dumb by the nurses. Maybe I've been lucky or maybe it is common to delay where I am at or maybe I'm too distracted to notice them rolling their eyes. No one questioned my choice. Hopefully you will have a good experience too!

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I would suggest calling your health department to find out if they give vaccines (ours no longer does) and where they are. I took my kids there and they were surprisingly wonderful. Much easier to deal with than their pediatrician about parental choice in the matter. Vaccines at Walgreens are probably going to be exceptionally expensive. Most would be covered through insurance during a well child check at a doctor's office. 

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I am selective about vaccines and my experience is no one made me feel guilty but offered information on the vaccines I refused to be better "educated".  Also, in some states kids have to show proof of certain boosters before entering certain grades.  Like someone said make sure to ask for and get a legal record of vacciations for your state.  

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Look around some of your local mom boards for a Ped who does delayed vax or who will see non-vax kids.

 

With BP I am doing slightly delayed and delaying some of the new "extras" and the Ped is good with that. Plus, she does make an effort to get formulations which don't have a lot of preservatives or other junk in it. She caught up CP (who missed some because of moving so often) without blinking an eye.

 

I know that you can get vaxes at walk-in clinics, but I personally wouldn't recommend it.

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There are plenty of kids who get their vaccinations late or on an odd schedule.  Doctors are used to working with that.  County health people are totally used to it too.

 

I'd call any local drs office and ask them what to do.  If you don't have insurance, they may suggest county health instead.  But they should have the contact info.

 

Can you get kids vaccinated at Walgreens?  When I tried a several years ago to get my 18 yr old daughter a flu vaccine at Walgreens, they refused -- said she had to be 19. 

 

Maybe that's just the state we're in.

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Been there, done that. I didn't get any pushback or attitude. I used the catch up schedules from the CDC website (http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/child-adolescent.html) as a place to start. There's also this one - https://www.vacscheduler.org/- that you can enter your child's birthdate and will give you a schedule specific to your child including the number of total immunizations for each series that your child would need.

 

I don't remember what we started with and we probably spaced things out more than we needed to, but my youngest dd is now up-to-date (minus HepB) and we're three years from start to finish. I ended up electing to do all of them. HepB we'll start at the same time as HPV a little further down the road.

 

I think most states have a vaccine registry, so as long as you haven't opted out of it, both the doctor's office and the county health department should be able to reference that along the way. We opted out way back when, so I just keep my own immunization records.

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The health department may not be able to help you.  I found that the hard way, after sitting and waiting for almost 2 hours past the appointment time they gave me, only to be told they couldn't give my sons vaccines.  They claimed this is a federal law (don't know if that's the truth or not).  But they said the government pays for their vaccines so if people have private insurance they cannot administer them to those people.  Our doctor did do vaccines, but he did not want my boys to get the P in DTaP and the practice he belonged to refused to get DT for the boys even when I offered to pay for it.  So they sent us to the health department and we couldn't get the vaccines there either.

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If anyone gives you flack about other vaccinations, just be firm, and state over and over, "No, thank you. We only want xyz right now."

 

Just an FYI, Walgreens does file through your insurance, but they do have to be above a certain age, and only do certain ones. I took my dds there for tetnus booster and meningitis. It was free because I had insurance, but I think they had to be at least 12?

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No guilt or judgement here.

 

I would recommend a pediatrician for children's vaccinations, as I have heard they are formulated for pediatric patients and may have different ingredients, such as no thimerisol in certain vaccines. I am not sur if this is true, but I would ask the questions.

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I recently had to get a copy of my childhood immunization records to prove that I've been immunized against measles. There is an outbreak here in the S.F. East Bay and I may have been exposed via BART (light rail). Anyways, I got:

 

DTP & polio at 2 mos.

MMR at 15 mos.

DTP & polio at 18 mos.

DTP & polio at 5 yrs.

MMR at 13 yrs.

 

Plus the various tetanus boosters as an adult (last one I think may have been a DTP booster but I'm not 100% sure).

 

So I would say your kids should get 3 doses of DTP, 3 of polio, and 2 doses of MMR because that's what was the standard schedule when we were kids in the '80's.

 

My kids have gotten the Hib and Prevnar, but I don't think those are generally given to older kids since the risk of the diseases are highest to babies.

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Our state doesn't allow pharmacies to vaccinate anyone under 18. Dh and I get our flu vaccine at a pharmacy but we have to take ds to the doctor for his. If the pharmacy was allowed though, I'd trust them.

 

If you're considering Walgreen's or any pharmacy, you need to find out first if it's allowed in your state. If not, I'd call the health department (I might do that anyway so I can compare costs, schedules, etc.). If none of that pans out, honestly, I'd switch to a practice that offers vaccines if I did in fact want to get them for my kid(s).

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I've found that health departments are wonderfully nonjudgmental. I had to prove a few vaccines when I started college to qualify for their health insurance, and realized that we had just missed some when I was growing up. I walked in as an 18 year old with a list of what I needed and a messy collection of childhood records, they reviewed and put me on a simple schedule for the summer, told me how much to pay, and I was all set.

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I had a preemie, then "failure to thrive" kid I delayed and selectively vaccinated. This was easier when a pediatrician did it, but then we moved and the health department did all vaccinations. They were, sorry to report, quite eye rolly and sighy about us. I just ignored it, but it was annoying. They did do what I asked, just with a large amount of attitude. Later still we moved overseas with this child, and the health dept there also did the vaccines, but they were totally fine with our delayed schedule and just seemed happy we were doing some, so perhaps it is regional. The first health dept was in the deep south, where the medical community seemed very "shut up and do what I say" in general, so that might have been it.

 

My advice is go in firm, ignore any attitude you get, and just do what you plan. Do not brook conversation on anything- it isn't up for discussion. And trust me, you are not the first or last to have kids behind the schedule- do what you are comfortable with and let them sigh.

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I might look into another doctor's office. My ob recently told me to get a DTap booster and that I could get it at the pharmacy. My insurance covers all preventative stuff, so it should have been covered. But they could only charge the prescription half of my coverage. So I made an appointment with my regular doctor where the cost would be completely covered.

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