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<p>You have this luxury because the rest of us vaccinate. Completely preventable serious diseases, including some that had been eradicated in developed countries, are reemerging because of this mindset. Have your child vaccinated.</p>
<p>I’m very pro-biased toward vaccination, but just to give you one more data point, we will be getting a booster meningitis vaccine for our son (he already had one earlier). My relative is a world renowned infectious disease specialist, and he highly recommends - - so I’m going with that ;). Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>You know someone who died from meningitis and you’re wondering if your child should be vaccinated?
Because of the way meningitis comes on and how it spreads and how it is often mistaken for a cold or the flu, it was a no-brainer for my daughters (as are all vaccines, but that’s another subject). Some flu strains hit younger people much more severely than older people so flu shots are the norm for them as well.</p>
<p>I was overseas last week and while on line for Immigration control, saw the sign which listed all the diseases and pandemics around the world which the US is tracking, depending on where you are coming from. I get that there are new diseases all the time- a guy died in France a few weeks ago from something new and virulent, but to see measles and diptheria on that list is really sad.</p>
<p>If you don’t have a compelling reason to refuse a vaccine, please consider those who can’t be vaccinated at all and are at grave risk if herd immunity doesn’t protect them.</p>
<p>What is really scary is the number of meningitis cases every year at colleges where the vaccine is required. I guess there are strains that it doesn’t cover? Or is there a group of people who get “exemptions” and they are the ones getting it? Any medical people have the answers? I always wonder if the kids who get it didn’t have the vaccine, but that is not usually reported with the story.</p>
<p>There is a subset of the population who cannot tolerate the vaccine- someone with a compromised immune system after chemo, for example. That’s why it’s so important for healthy people to get vaccinated. One of my kids had a dorm mate with Cystic Fibrosis and the other kids were very careful to make sure they got flu shots (not mandatory at this college) to keep their classmate as safe as possible.</p>
<p>Young adults should also get the TDap booster for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.</p>
<p>parentofpeople, even the most efficacious vaccine is never 100% effective. The now 2nd dose of the meningococcal vaccine is an attempt to cover more people by getting those who didn’t convert the first time to be immune. Also, statistically, once much of a population is vaccinated against a certain disease, those cases of that disease will also occur in vaccinated (but nonimmune) individuals because of epidemiologic factors. One epidemiologist explained it to me this way-- if a handful of kids in a class get chicken pox, you will probably find that more kids with cpox were vaccinated, but the nonvaccinated kids with cpox represent a higher incidence of cpox relative to the unvaccinated subpopulation of the class and the vaccinated kids with cpox represent a smaller incidence of their vaccinated cohort. It may be getting to the same point with meningococcal vaccine.</p>
<p>To the OP…there are not too many threads on this forum where ALL the respondents agree. </p>
<p>Get the vaccine.</p>
<p>OP, I’m having trouble understanding why you posted at all–i.e., why this is even a decision point for you. What are your justifications for NOT vaccinating your daughter? It’s hard to respond intelligently when all you’ve said is that you aren’t a fan of vaccines without explaining further.</p>
<p>From the AAP’s site for parents: [HealthyChildren.org</a> - Meningococcal Vaccines: What You Need to Know](<a href=“http://www.healthychildren.org/english/safety-prevention/immunizations/pages/Meningococcal-Vaccines-What-You-Need-to-Know.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3A+No+local+token]HealthyChildren.org”>http://www.healthychildren.org/english/safety-prevention/immunizations/pages/Meningococcal-Vaccines-What-You-Need-to-Know.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3A+No+local+token)</p>
<p>Our pediatrician cautioned our kids very carefully that, even though they’d received the meningitis vaccine, they were still to seek immediate medical care if they developed symptoms. He didn’t want them thinking “this can’t be meningitis” just because they’d been immunized. According to the above site:
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<p>When people speculate about whether college students who develop meningitis were immunized, I wonder if they think the vaccine confers 100 percent protection. It does not (see “2 of the 3 types” above). But it still means more protection against a deadly disease than no vaccine.</p>
<p>My daughter had vague symptoms this spring that were close enough to those for meningitis that she went to an urgent care facility to check it out, and she has been vaccinated. It is not something to take a chance with.</p>
<p>My son was a freshman last year. One kid would get sick in the hall, and it would wipe out most of the kids. They share bathrooms, lay in each others beds, share clothes, probably drinks. It’s a petri dish of germs in dorms. And trust me, my son never vacuumed or dusted, he certainly wasn’t using any anti-bacterial wipes or hand sanitizers.</p>
<p>Powercropper - I totally understand your concern. We have integrated medicine physicians and are not big on vacines. We do not get flu shots. My S is a rising senior in college and has never had a flu shot. However we did do HIB because it is a condition of enrollment in their school.</p>
<p>OP here…I like to research and gather information. Both my children have had every childhood immunization. I know the need to get my child this vaccine, and will be getting it, but wanted to check out any horror stories of side effects to be more informed about our decision.</p>
<p>Already, I have learned through this thread that there are several different types of meningitis vaccine, and so I now know to ask questions at the doctor’s office.</p>
<p>I appreciate those who have added thoughtful comments.</p>
<p>Gave S1 menningitis vaccine before he went off to summer classes in 8th grade. Can someone tell me how often a booster is necessary? Thank you.</p>
<p>OP - you are doing the right thing by gathering as much information as possible before making this decision. As you can see, in this case, the vaccine is definitely necessary.</p>
<p>Yes, although I am concerned about side effects I have also gone along with the vaccination schedule. And my kids are both fine - no side effects. The only one that I hesitated about was HPV - but in the end I let my daughter decide if she wanted it and she did. So she got them.</p>
<p>I am strongly against most vaccinations. None of my kids have ever received vaccines for hepatitis A, or the annual flu vaccine. I have selectively let them get other vaccines, never more than one at a time. Our first line of defense for any illnesses are homeopathic remedies. This said I, after much thought and research, got my oldest the meningitis vaccine before he left for college. And I will also for my other children.</p>
<p>I’m glad you’re relying on just the placebo effect to treat your children.</p>
<p>I sincerely do hope that your children never have to see nor suffer the effects of hepatic failure–it really is quite awful–but understand at least that you have that luxury only because the rest of us choose to not treat ourselves with something that has been proven to not work for decades and decades.</p>