Questions about your thoughts on vaccines and poll

[ThreeBlessings]

I want to start off saying I am not anti-vaccine personally. I do strongly feel parents should have the right to choose vaccines for their child. I have done a lot of research about the vaccines and diseases. I have been shocked by the strong feelings and thoughts people have about vaccine use. I know the subject is controversial, but I also know educated people are quite capable of talking about controversial subjects amiably. I'm very interested about people's thoughts on vaccines, whether it should be a right of parents to choose, people selecting vaccines or choosing not to do any vaccines, the future additions to the vaccine schedule, etc.

 

I'm adding a poll because I am curious what vaccines most people have received if you're willing to share. I'm leaving out Hep A, hpv, and Rotavirus as there are only 10 options allowed and I doubt most of us have received them anyway. I'm leaving off smallpox because it isn't given routinely now. There is an other option for people need it and people can feel free to post and share if they've received vaccines I have left off. The option for DTP is just DTP for simplicity sake. I know there is dt, tdap, dtap, and if you've received one of them I'd say just click DTP. I'm sure some of us don't know exactly which vaccines they've received. This isn't scientific research, so just do your best. Here is a link to the history of the vaccine schedule if it would be helpful to see what vaccines where recommended when you were a kid.

 

I have often read and heard comments regarding people not wanting their child around other children who are not vaccinated or haven't had all vaccines. Honestly I don't understand these statements.

 

I wonder if people realize how few vaccines older adults received. They *may* have had polio, mmr, and dtp (possibly smallpox). People in their 30's likely had polio, mmr, dtp, and hib. The majority of the population has not received the vaccines young children are supposed to get these days, Prevnar, Varicella, hep b, hep a, flu, rotavirus, hpv, meningococcus.

 

My oldest daughter is 12, my youngest 4. When my oldest was little Prevnar, flu, hep a, and meningococcus weren't being given. Rotavirus and varicella were never even discussed with me by doctors as options. Fast forward to my little one. Here is the list recommended for her- mmr, polio, dtap, hib, hep b, flu, rotavirus, prevnar, varicella, and hep a, meningococcus, and hpv as age appropriate. This means most of the population, including yourself and your own doctor, haven't received even half of the recommended vaccines children routinely receive today.

[Whereneverever]

I've received none.

[Catwoman]

I hope you get the answers you need before this turns into a Trainwreck of Epic Proportions. The vaccine threads never seem to end happily.

[TravelingChris]

I forgot to put other. I also have received Hep A and also smallpox twice.

[ThreeBlessings]

I hope you get the answers you need before this turns into a Trainwreck of Epic Proportions. The vaccine threads never seem to end happily.

 

I hope it won't turn bad. I think it is an important topic that needs discussed. I think if I could have a discussion about it anywhere it would be with the educated folks here. :)

[jennynd]

I have just about everything when I came to this country

[Whereneverever]

This is about us, not our kids,right?

[littlebug42]

I voted for a few but honestly, I am not certain what vaccines I have had. I was born in 1971 and likely got whatever was recommended at the time. I know I did not get the smallpox one though because I don't think they gave that anymore when I was ready. I know I had to have an MMR booster when I got my hospital job because they determined I was not immune and it was required. I also got a flu shot this year as I work at the hospital and didn't want to carry who knows what home.

[elegantlion]

I have absolutely no idea. I'm 44 and the last update I remember was a tetanus shot, which has been more than a decade ago.

 

I know I did not receive the chicken pox vaccine as that is newer, and I don't get the flu shot.

[ThreeBlessings]

This is about us, not our kids,right?

 

Right :)

[Mama Geek]

I picked the ones that I knew for sure that I had. DTAP, MMR, and flu.

 

I have had one flu vaccine and within a few days had the flu. I started off getting some of the vaccines for dd, but had horrible times finding doctors who were willing to do an alternative schedule. So we stopped. I would love to find a Doc that I could sit down and discuss the vaccines with. I think part of the problem is there are many Doc's who haven't done the basic research on the pro's and con's of vaccines.

 

I do believe it should remain a parent's right to choose when and if their children get vaccines. I think parents should be able to be parents when it comes to food choices, school choices, medical issues, etc. also.

 

I did have a good case of the chicken pox growing up.

[ThreeBlessings]

I personally have had MMR, Polio, and DTP. Last I received a booster for tetanus was about 8 years ago, before they were recommending boosters for the pertussis portion of DTaP, so I just got Td. Likely any pertussis immunity I had has waned.

[GailV]

I received vaccines for DTP, polio, and smallpox. Also probably typhoid and some other odd ones I don't recall.

 

I had the following diseases as a child, as did everyone in my family: chicken pox, measles, mumps, rubella.

 

I've no clue about hepatitis and HIB. I know I've never had a vax for the others.

[ThreeBlessings]

I picked the ones that I knew for sure that I had. DTAP, MMR, and flu.

 

I have had one flu vaccine and within a few days had the flu. I started off getting some of the vaccines for dd, but had horrible times finding doctors who were willing to do an alternative schedule. So we stopped. I would love to find a Doc that I could sit down and discuss the vaccines with. I think part of the problem is there are many Doc's who haven't done the basic research on the pro's and con's of vaccines.

 

I do believe it should remain a parent's right to choose when and if their children get vaccines. I think parents should be able to be parents when it comes to food choices, school choices, medical issues, etc. also.

 

I did have a good case of the chicken pox growing up.

 

I understand totally about the doctor stuff. I think a lot of things revolving around health care in the US is a crying shame. I try to be understanding of where doctors are coming from on the issue of vaccines, but I detest the inflexibility and bullying of a lot of doctors.

[Desert Rat]

Preface: My dad is a polio survivor. We got every vaccine available to us at the time. My children get every vaccine (except the HPV) available to them. If I had not been the daughter of a man with polio, I might think differently. Watching him die slowly of Post Polio Syndrome at the age of 65 is almost too much to bear. (He missed the polio vaccine by 3 years.)

[ThreeBlessings]

Preface: My dad is a polio survivor. We got every vaccine available to us at the time. My children get every vaccine (except the HPV) available to them. If I had not been the daughter of a man with polio, I might think differently. Watching him die slowly of Post Polio Syndrome at the age of 65 is almost too much to bear. (He missed the polio vaccine by 3 years.)

 

:grouphug: I'm so sorry for you and your father.

[joannqn]

I don't have my vaccine records, but I know my parents just went with whatever was recommended. According to your link, I would have gotten DTP, MMR, tetanus, and polio. My last booster, a tetanus shot, was in 1988.

 

Three of my kids have gotten the first two tetanus shots. My youngest only got her first tetanus shot because she got sick that day. It turned out not to be a vaccine reaction, but we decided that we'd rather wait until she could communicate what was going on before continuing.

 

 

I love your argument about how most adults haven't been vaccinated with most of today's recommended vaccines. I've heard the argument about not wanting *my* kid to be around those unvaccinated kids, but none of those parents seem to realize that they themselves remain unvaccinated to today's standards.

[NittanyJen]

I have had pretty much every vax under the sun (worked in a children's hospital) and so will my kids. For us the odds of a reaction seem pretty remote, and much better than what these diseases can do to a person.

 

My Mom has post-polio syndrome, and it's no joke.

 

I've also had boosters for most of my childhood vaccines, since they do wear off (it's amazing how many adults put themselves through whooping cough, which is not minor, instead of getting a booster; I bet many just don't know to get a booster).

 

But in the hospital, my lab was right next to the bone marrow transplant unit. No way were we risking exposing those kids to anything unnecessary.

[MHowell]

Preface: My dad is a polio survivor. We got every vaccine available to us at the time. My children get every vaccine (except the HPV) available to them. If I had not been the daughter of a man with polio, I might think differently. Watching him die slowly of Post Polio Syndrome at the age of 65 is almost too much to bear. (He missed the polio vaccine by 3 years.)

 

:iagree: Except it was my father in law. Our kids get everything, though never more than two at a time. As far as I know, I received everything except chicken pox (because I got it when I was very young).

[PeacefulChaos]

I've had tons of vaccines.

I love getting shots. I know, it's weird. :tongue_smilie:

[jennynd]

Preface: My dad is a polio survivor. We got every vaccine available to us at the time. My children get every vaccine (except the HPV) available to them. If I had not been the daughter of a man with polio, I might think differently. Watching him die slowly of Post Polio Syndrome at the age of 65 is almost too much to bear. (He missed the polio vaccine by 3 years.)

:grouphug::grouphug:

[stripe]

Some older people also have received very strong vaccines that are not normally offered to children these days. Such as smallpox. That leaves a nasty scar.

 

I didn't get varicella. I got a nasty case of chicken pox.

 

My grandma and several of her siblings had polio as children. I too wouldn't wish that on anyone. She witnessed a neighbor girl die of lockjaw, which is prevented by a tetanus shot, so she has gotten them following injuries in her old age.

 

I voted to the best of my recollection. I didn't crack out my paperwork. I have also received multiple vaccines before traveling. I wish there was a vaccine for malaria.

[Parrothead]

I've had the small pox, the DTP, the MMR, and one of the Heps. I think it was B. Not sure though. Which ever one is recommended for law enforcement, nurses, EMTs.

 

If it was recommended for a child of the mid 1960s I got it. I got the small pox because we left the US in the early 70s.

 

I refuse to get the flu shot.

[Matryoshka]

I think I've had DT (may or may not have had Pertussis - it may well have been advised against for me, as it was for my kids, because of infantile seizures). I know I've had polio, measles and rubella vaccines - I don't think it was the MMR yet, though, because I had mumps the disease in first grade, so I hadn't been vaccinated. Same with chicken pox - got the spots. :)

 

So, DT, polio, measles and rubella vaccines??

 

With the exception of pertussis which I may or may not have been vaxed for, I don't think those other vaccines were even available when I was a kid.

[SJ.]

I received everything that was offered in 1998 when I entered the military. In addition I received the oral polio, yellow fever, japanese encephalitis, and anthrax vaccines.

[Mommyfaithe]

Dpt, Mmr & polio vaccines. I think I had small pox vaccine, because of the scar on the back of my arm....they moved from the side to back to thigh....then stopped giving it.

 

I had pertussis as an adult, vaccine wore off, and my kids had it as well, even though they were vaccinated.

 

I have no immunity to R, even though I was vaccinated repeatedly.....every time they check, I have no antibodies. I had the vaccine 3 times, then quit trying:tongue_smilie:

Faithe.

[DianeW88]

I've had everything that was given out since the mid-sixties and anything I needed to work in the health care industry. I've gotten so many vaccines, I can't count them all. LOL Not a single bad reaction to any of them. My kids are all fully vaxed as well....no reactions or problems as a result.

 

We also get the flu shot every year without fail.

[mommymilkies]

Most of the normal ones. I even had the chicken pox vaccine...after I had the chicken pox! Talk about craziness. I do NOT vax my children, nor do I vaccinate myself now that I am of age to make that decision myself. :)

[SweetMissMagnolia]

if I understood it this was for what vaccines we adults have received right? well I received mine in the mid-late 1970s so I'm assuming that I got most of "whatever" they gave at that time....I had to get a booster MMR after my son was born (dr did some bloodwork and found that I needed it?-at least that's what I was told)---I've gotten polio and dtap and yrly flu that's all I know for sure......

[Hwin]

i had mmr, polio, and dtp. I think I also got hep B when I was in college.

 

i live in a state where we don't have much choice, and I'm all for parental choice. I won't let a doctor vax my kids unless they let me opt out of the state registry, so it's possible my youngest will never receive any at all (in my perfect world I would choose selective/delayed vaccination.)

[Jean in Newcastle]

I know I had the smallpox vaccine because I have the scar. I had Rubella as a baby. I think I was given the MMR as an adult because I hadn't had it as a child. I was given the Hep B vaccine when I went to the Philippines as an adult (as well as some other specialty ones). I know that I've had a tetnus shot. Don't know if I got the DTP or not. I had the chicken pox. I had the flu shot once and will never do it again. My arm swelled up and was very very painful. I have no idea on the polio vaccine.

[Iucounu]

I have often read and heard comments regarding people not wanting their child around other children who are not vaccinated or haven't had all vaccines. Honestly I don't understand these statements.

One reason for this may be that vaccines are generally not 100% effective. Reading up on herd immunity may be instructive.

 

My only real worry with vaccines is that super-strains of various bugs may be created, which could happen even with perfect vaccination rates, but is more likely with imperfect vaccination scheduling. See, e.g. whooping cough.

 

I think the vultures that prey on vaccine fears with pseudoscientific remedies ought to be locked up. And while I totally understand that fears over thimerosal/thiomersal injuries and the like are the result of misinformation, so are not ever the fault of individual parents, it's deplorable and IMHO criminal for people to knowingly spread the misinformation.

[...................]

I agree with you.

 

I vaccine on an altered schedule and leave out many of the newer ones. It's a lot

[MorganClassicalPrep]

According to the link, I would have been given MMR, DTP, Polio, and Hib. I'm sure that my parents gave me everything recommended. I've never had a flu vaccine. In fact... on Wednesday I got my first vaccine as an adult, the DTAP. After THAT... I won't be getting anymore! My arm is STILL hurting, and I had a really weird reaction. (Nausea, dizziness, sweating and hot even though everyone else in the house was cold, felt weird in my head- I almost felt drunk. But this was on Thursday night, nearly 36 hours after I had the shot... was it a random one-night sickness or a reaction? I'm not sure! :tongue_smilie:)

[SKL]

I'm sure I had the MMR and polio. Not sure about DPT. Pretty sure I never had any of the others.

 

I have not had any as an adult, I'm pretty sure.

[Little Nyssa]

The usuals, plus yellow fever, typhoid, plague for travel. Plus half a rabies series-- the series was stopped when the exposure was determIned not to be a threat.

Once my arm swelled up from the flu vax, so now I only get it if it seems to be a bad flu year.

[SKL]

I try to take a practical approach to vaccines, understanding that they have side effects. I don't do every vax out there but I do the ones for the relatively risky stuff. I time it based on my best understanding of risk-rewards. So I did MMR around age 2.5 and I won't do chickenpox unless my kids haven't had the pox by age 9 or so. I won't let them do a bunch at one time.

 

I think that in hindsight, some of our vaccine policy was misguided. I would rather be an older adult who had measles as a child than one who was vaxed as a child. Measles was not as dangerous to children as we make it out to be. I think it would have been better for the medical field to find an effective treatment for the disease rather than a vax. But hindsight is a luxury they didn't have all those decades ago.

 

So we're stuck with the MMR etc., but they can avoid making the same mistakes or making things even worse by adding more and more vaxes, as if more were always better.

[ThreeBlessings]

One reason for this may be that vaccines are generally not 100% effective. Reading up on herd immunity may be instructive.

 

My only real worry with vaccines is that super-strains of various bugs may be created, which could happen even with perfect vaccination rates, but is more likely with imperfect vaccination scheduling. See, e.g. whooping cough.

 

I think the vultures that prey on vaccine fears with pseudoscientific remedies ought to be locked up. And while I totally understand that fears over thimerosal/thiomersal injuries and the like are the result of misinformation, so are not ever the fault of individual parents, it's deplorable and IMHO criminal for people to knowingly spread the misinformation.

 

I have researched vaccines quite a lot. I spent many hours reading on the CDC's website, books from the library about diseases and the immune system, and peer reviewed Science journals when I was pregnant with my last child. I read every chapter of the CDC's Pink Book at least twice. I've read the vaccine manufacturers' literature on every vaccine relevant to my family. I know what herd immunity is and have a good understanding of the relevance to vaccines.

 

Autism, thimerosal, toxins, etc are not on my radar of concerns with vaccines. We are told by doctors and the CDC that 'vaccines are safe'. People take this to mean your child is safe when they receive a vaccine, which simply isn't true. What they really mean is that according to research data your child is statistically less likely to be harmed by the vaccine than the disease if they contracted it. Vaccine injuries are real and do happen. Every time someone gets a vaccine there is a small risk they could be harmed. Vaccine manufacturers and the CDC do not deny this. It is a fact.

 

I personally don't think children should be targeted as vaccine recipients for the sake of herd immunity. Giving a child a vaccine is a risk, no matter how small. In my opinion the benefits weighed should be for the individual child, not society. They need to target adults to be put at risk for the herd, not children. I also think many people don't realize herd immunity does not work for all diseases and certainly not the same level for each.

 

I too have concerns over new strains of disease resulting from vaccine use. We've seen it in the past many times and I'm sure we'll see it in the future. It is scary to think of 'super bugs'. There will never be a 100% vaccinated population (outside of sci-fi or one heck of a scary future :) ), so I'm not sure what vaccine scheduling has to do with it.

 

I'm also concerned about our population losing its natural herd immunity due to vaccine use. I think this could be a big problem in the future, though I sure hope not.

Edited February 25, 2012 by ThreeBlessings

[kalanamak]

 

I have often read and heard comments regarding people not wanting their child around other children who are not vaccinated or haven't had all vaccines. Honestly I don't understand these statements.

 

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/370/ruining-it-for-the-rest-of-us

 

This may help you understand. It presents both sides, and should not offend either if the listener is mature, but would inflame both if the listeners are not seasoned enough to tolerate hearing "the other side".

[ThreeBlessings]

I try to take a practical approach to vaccines, understanding that they have side effects. I don't do every vax out there but I do the ones for the relatively risky stuff. I time it based on my best understanding of risk-rewards. So I did MMR around age 2.5 and I won't do chickenpox unless my kids haven't had the pox by age 9 or so. I won't let them do a bunch at one time.

 

I think that in hindsight, some of our vaccine policy was misguided. I would rather be an older adult who had measles as a child than one who was vaxed as a child. Measles was not as dangerous to children as we make it out to be. I think it would have been better for the medical field to find an effective treatment for the disease rather than a vax. But hindsight is a luxury they didn't have all those decades ago.

 

So we're stuck with the MMR etc., but they can avoid making the same mistakes or making things even worse by adding more and more vaxes, as if more were always better.

 

This is a big concern of mine with the chicken pox shot. I worry it will end up being a bad thing in the future.

[GailV]

This is a big concern of mine with the chicken pox shot. I worry it will end up being a bad thing in the future.

 

It already is, hence the rise in shingles.

[Elizabeth in MN]

The only vaccine I keep up with is Tetanus. It's pretty much the same with my DD, though she gets the DTaP shot.

[Jean in Newcastle]

It already is, hence the rise in shingles.

 

Is that the same with people who have had the actual chicken pox?

[ThreeBlessings]

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/370/ruining-it-for-the-rest-of-us

 

This may help you understand. It presents both sides, and should not offend either if the listener is mature, but would inflame both if the listeners are not seasoned enough to tolerate hearing "the other side".

 

Thank you for the link. I will check it out.

[Hannah C.]

I have never been vaccinated. I had chicken pox at 4, so I have natural immunity. I've had whooping cough twice, once at 4 and once in high school (the second case was less severe and never officially confirmed). I am not immune to rubella, which I suppose means I never caught it.

 

If the diseases for which we have vaccines become more common in the US, I will get the vaccines. I should get a tetanus shot just to be safe, and the rubella as well (but I think I would have to get MMR for that). I moved out of dorms the year that meningitis became required for college students living in dorms.

 

If I ever go overseas, or to the south, I plan to get all my shots first. I currently have no plans to go overseas.

 

We haven't decided whether or not to vaccinate dd - my thought is that we'll start the shots around 3 if we do.

 

One of my (adult) sisters, who was also not vaccinated as a child, recently had to get vaccinations in order to be around chemotherapy patients. She did not have to get the full range of vaccinations recommended for children. I'm not sure where the list of required shots came from in her case, but found it interesting that she didn't have to get them all.

Edited February 26, 2012 by Hannah C.
unclear antecedents! wooo!

[Hannah C.]

Is that the same with people who have had the actual chicken pox?

 

From what I understand you can get shingles from chicken pox AND the chicken pox vaccine.

[WeeBeaks]

To be very honest, I'm not entirely sure. I know I did not receive varicella or any hepatitis shots. I was moved around a lot (divorced parents, shuffled from relative to relative some), so my medical/dental/vaccines were somewhat spotty and I don't have the record.

 

As an adult I have gotten the flu shot once or twice but not routinely or recently. I have received tetanus in whatever combo it comes as now. I never had chickenpox so eventually need to have a titer drawn again (in pregnancy it showed not immune) and may very well get the vaccine as I'm terrified of getting that while pregnant or just a bad case as an adult.

[GailV]

Is that the same with people who have had the actual chicken pox?

 

Yes, the virus stays in your body, so if you had chicken pox as a child you can have shingles later.

 

One theory is that in ages past, exposure to kids with chicken pox acted like a "booster shot" to adults who have the virus in their system, allowing their bodies to increase immunity. See NYT article here.

[MFG]

I am not exactly sure what I had. I know I have had tetanus shots and remember polio and measles. I have also had smallpox because it was required before I started school. My grandfather was a retired MD and he gave me the vaccination. I was probably 5yo at the time.

[momtoamiracle]

I had dtp, mmr, and polio as a child. haven't had a single vaccine since. I had CP when I was 3, am immune to rubella.

 

 

 

my son has had a few - dtap, hib, polio - no MMR, Varicella, prevnar, or any others.

 

 

I'm on the fence about MMR and CP. I'd said if he hadn't had it by age 7 I'd get him the shot. The thing is I know he'd be so miserable with it, I couldn't keep him from scratching. I had a cousin that died at age 8 from CP.