Health Issues What is your opinion on immunisations?

[beancounter]

We always have a supply of preservative free flu vaccine available where I work.

My doctor's office has both. But of course the preservative free version cost more. You shouldn't have to choose between getting a shot and risking negative exposure (however slight)

I remember one year, the strain of flu going around was considered so potentially dangerous, that the state funded free shots.

 

[Mr Crunchy]

1) Vaccines are not 100% safe.

Please visit Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System: VAERS Data for information about adverse effects of vaccines. Note, this is a US government sponsored website run by Health and Human Services, not some conspiracy website. It is a collection site and not all reports are corroborated. Nevertheless, there are more than 45,000 reported adverse reactions in 2016 alone, including death. That is a typical year. Even if half of them are legitimate, that is many incidents. Even 10%.

Immunizations are a calculated risk. The risks in general are greater for not getting immunized, but any medical person telling you they are perfectly safe is not being honest.


2) Vaccines are not 100% effective.

I teach statistics and vaccine efficacy is one subject we study. One reason you receive multiple immunizations for diseases such as polio is that it is only 95% effective. You can be immunized and still contract the disease as we saw with the measles outbreak at Disneyland a few years ago. The risk is compounded by the size of the non-immunized population.

In summary, vaccines are a poison pill agreement among an informed population that will negatively affect one in one million versus one in one thousand without the vaccine. It is worth the risk, but there is a risk. Both my children are fully immunized and I get a flu vaccine every year. I gave it a lot of thought and don't harbor any ill regards towards parents who choose otherwise.

 

[shyvas]

Polio is not yet a distant memory for some of us. I remember a boy in my class in the 59/1960's suffering with polio. The poor lad was in a wheelchair and had other polio related, health problems.
My friend's husband who lives on Vancouver Island also contracted the disease in the latex 50's as well as most of his class due to a vaccine that was expired. I learned that once you have contracted the disease you never are completely cured. He has bouts of symptoms even though he is now in his 60's.

History of polio - BBC News

 

[KLS52]

My doctor's office has both. But of course the preservative free version cost more. You shouldn't have to choose between getting a shot and risking negative exposure (however slight)

I remember one year, the strain of flu going around was considered so potentially dangerous, that the state funded free shots.

Yes, we held several PODs (Point of Distribution Drill) where free flu shots were given out to the public.

 

[Naturebound1]

I didn't realise there was one. I was worried I would get a reaction when I have had the flu jab as I have been vegan for so many years and thought the egg version might have given me a reaction.

About Flublok | Pure, Safe & Effective Influenza Vaccine | Flublok

 

[Mikkel]

I would have followed the recomended program here in Norway if I had kids. It's not only about my kids, but also every one else and the once that can't be vaccinated because of health/allergies.

My dogs are of cause fully vaccinated + rabies and leptospirose, so why shouldn't I vaccinate my kids then?

I'm really not buying all the things they claim vaccination causes. I think some people need a scapegoat for everything...

Perhaps not all vaccinations are vegan, but medications are very often not vegan. The only one I've seen attacking other vegans because of medications, is people that has never been ill.

 

[Andy_T]

Immunizations are a calculated risk. The risks in general are greater for not getting immunized, but any medical person telling you they are perfectly safe is not being honest.

That actually very much depends on the vaccine in question, and its specific benefits and risks.

To cite one example, in my home country of Austria, there were (and possibly still are, not sure about that) originally big annual campaigns to vaccinate all children against tick-borne encephalitis, a horrible disease that can be transmitted by infected ticks.

According to the German Paul-Ehrlich Institute (German Federal institute for vaccinations) complications for this specific vaccination make up about 10 % of the German total number of vaccination complications (some of them severe), so in Germany, this vaccination is only suggested to people who live in risk areas or who have a profession in which they are especially exposed, e.g. woodworkers in the forest.

 

[Second Summer]

According to the German Paul-Ehrlich Institute (German Federal institute for vaccinations) complications for this specific vaccination make up about 10 % of the German total number of vaccination complications (some of them severe), so in Germany, this vaccination is only suggested to people who live in risk areas or who have a profession in which they are especially exposed, e.g. woodworkers in the forest.

Oh, that's interesting. TBE has recently spread to the particular area in Norway where I come from, and since we go there about once every year, and usually go on forest walks when we're there, we decided to get vaccinated. We're about to get the final booster shot in a few weeks.

I think I heard the son of one of our acquaintances in Sweden had some kind of reaction to the TBE vaccine, possibly to do with the aluminium in the vaccine, IIRC.

 

[KLS52]

I just realized something. Here I am all pro vaccine and I have yet to go for my Zostavax/Shingles vaccine. Initially, I didn't want it but then my husband got it two years ago. It wasn't the worst case but he was pretty uncomfortable with it. Then a coworker, who had been vaccinated, came down with a super mild case of it. She didn't even miss any work, it was so mild. Another unvaccinated coworker was out for a month. It's especially bad when it hits your face/scalp, I think.

I'm procrastinating, one, because I'm lazy and, two, insurance doesn't cover it. It's in the vicinity of $300.

 

[silva]

I just realized something. Here I am all pro vaccine and I have yet to go for my Zostavax/Shingles vaccine. Initially, I didn't want it but then my husband got it two years ago. It wasn't the worst case but he was pretty uncomfortable with it. Then a coworker, who had been vaccinated, came down with a super mild case of it. She didn't even miss any work, it was so mild. Another unvaccinated coworker was out for a month. It's especially bad when it hits your face/scalp, I think.

I'm procrastinating, one, because I'm lazy and, two, insurance doesn't cover it. It's in the vicinity of $300.

Oh my! My insurance did cover it, thankfully. I doubt I'd pay that much! I made sure to get it as I've heard horrible stories. I didn't get the chicken pox until I was 33. That was miserable! It wasn't the itching, they got more in my lungs or something. I was just so sick. My kids on the other hand, looked like burn victims, but otherwise felt ok. They didn't even itch that badly

 

[Moll Flanders]

I didn't know there was a specific shingles vaccine. I just looked and it's for people over 70 over here, you can get it over the age of 50, but you have to pay £100-£200.

Shingles vaccine questions and answers - Vaccinations - NHS Choices

 

[Second Summer]

I had the shingles (the disease, not the vaccine) when I was in my mid thirties. Felt a bit like a failure at immune system health, as it's the kind of disease older people get, I thought. Anyway, it was a relatively mild case, or at least it felt that way, perhaps because I went to the doctor right away and got some kind of cream / ointment to put on.

 

[Pirate]

I teach statistics and vaccine efficacy is one subject we study. One reason you receive multiple immunizations for diseases such as polio is that it is only 95% effective. You can be immunized and still contract the disease as we saw with the measles outbreak at Disneyland a few years ago. The risk is compounded by the size of the non-immunized population.

Well that still means I'm 95% less likely to get polio than if I had no vaccine (apologies for the bad statistics I am sure you will find in my simple maths).

I get vaccines if I need them and they are available. The flu vaccine may not be vegan but as an asthmatic I'd possibly be dead if I got flu and that's no help to anyone! Plus spreading a deadly illness to the elderly or immunocompromised doesn't seem very vegan to me haha. I didn't know there was an egg free alternative - has anyone had any luck getting it in the UK? I get the flu vaccine free both through work and the NHS (woo choices) but if I could pay a little to get an eggless one it'd be a bonus.

 

[beancounter]

I teach statistics

So your user name has a double meaning. Very clever!

1. Crunchy because vegetarians are often viewed as such
2. Crunch-y as in crunching numbers!

 

[Spang]

If I had any spawns, I wouldn't vaccinate them, but I'd pay a nurse to vaccinate them for me.

 

[Blues]

Vegan mother forced to vaccinate children in High Court ruling

 

[Second Summer]

Vegan mother forced to vaccinate children in High Court ruling

This is perhaps more because the father wanted them vaccinated, though. The ruling would have been the same regardless of the mother and children being vegan.

 

[MadamSarcastra]

Personally, I think responsible parents get their kids immunized. If not... if you are willingly, knowingly making your kids vulnerable to some extremely hideous diseases... that's a form of child-abuse.

I didn't think I'd be weighing in here. Oh, well. I've said my piece. I'm done now. LOL

 

[MadamSarcastra]

If I had any spawns, I wouldn't vaccinate them, but I'd pay a nurse to vaccinate them for me.

"Spawn of Spang".... that's damn catchy!

 

[Mikkel]

Deadly measles outbreak spreads in Europe as vaccinations fall