Why? The tests that these vaccines have to go through before they reach the market are insane.
There are lots of things I’m afraid of putting in my body… vaccines are certainly not on that list.
My D got it and it was covered by our insurance so you don’t have to wait for an outbreak.
I worded that badly; you don’t have to wait for an outbreak; but the AAP, ACIP and CDC recommendations factor a local outbreak into their recommendations. That is, meningococcal meningitis vaccinations are part of the routine recommended vaccines for young people, the men B vaccines are not yet part of that regimen; they are separately recommended if there is an outbreak.
I had to do a research paper on Thalidomide. It made me think very highly of the FDA in general but leary. My sister is an MD and very pro vaccine, I get the pros and cons. I hope I’m wrong and the vaccine helps and doesn’t hurt. But I didn’t want my daughter to be one of first generations to find out if there are long term side effects.
How do we weigh the immediate grief of the known tragic effects of not vaccinating vs. the possible long-term (and so far unseen) side-effects of vaccinating?
I hope your daughter isn’t the one who causes an outbreak.
Then you probably shouldn’t vaccinate for another 60 years or so. Just in case.
In the mean time, we know the real effects of not vaccinating. They can lead to an excruciating death.
I took that risk as someone who was 15 when the HPV vaccine first came out. A vaccine to prevent cancer? Uh, yes please!
When does not vaccinating become child abuse? How do we weigh children’s vs. parent’s rights?
I questioned & waited on the HPV vaccine for my daughter. My husband & I have always been pro-vaccination & our doctors thought I was hesitating because one of my children is autistic but no. Just leery of this particular one. But then both the pediatrician & my GYN told me they were vaccinating their daughters against HPV & I thought, if its safe enough for them, its safe enough for us.
Please follow all the CDC guidelines for immunizations… I can’t imagine having someone come down with an illness that I could have prevented by having my child immunized, whether it be my child or a person they came in contact with who for real health reasons, could not be immunized.
The problem with waiting to give your teen the HPV vaccination is that they really need to get it before they become sexually active, and unfortunately that’s often earlier than their parents are prepared for. It’s not like the flu vaccine-it requires multiple shots and once they’ve picked up HPV, whether through a consensual relationship, a date rape, or molestation, they’re at risk for cervical cancer for the rest of their life. As @romanigypsyeyes said, “A vaccine to prevent cancer? Uh, yes please!”
I think that if you check the more recent statistics, you may find that more boys are getting the HPV shot. All 4 of my sons have had the full series, all since 2011 (when they ranged in age from 12 to 21). In addition and anecdotally, the vast majority of S17’s male friends have also had the vaccine per my discussions with other moms.
I waited to get my D the shot until about one year after it came out on advice of my pediatrician, who had 3 D’s of his own. When he felt it was okay to give the shot to his own D’s, I gave it to mine. Her arm swelled at the first shot but she had no reaction to the next two. It was a couple of years later that the doctor recommended I get the shots for my sons.
My D went through an anti-vaccine phase. She is in her mid 20’s and not yet a parent. My 20 year old son told her that if she had kids and didn’t vaccinate them, he would go to court to challenge her custody! She finally agrees that it is important to vaccinate. For instance, she is interviewing for a position as a SEIT and plans to work with autistic children. She went and got herself a flu shot because she said she’d feel badly if she gave the flu to an immune compromised child or, just as bad, to a parent who couldn’t afford to take time off from work to be sick or to care for a sick child.
One of my closest friends can’t get the flu shot. I always get mine, for myself (I hate the idea of using sick days for actually being sick!) but also to protect those around me who can’t be immunized.
Right now, I am looking into the shingles and pneumonia shots for old people. H is 60 and the insurance now covers it. I am a few years younger and running scared because I know several people who have had shingles before 60. I am thinking of seeing if the public health clinic will give it to me because insurance doesn’t cover it.
I should add that my grandparents knew Jonas Salk in the “old neighborhood.” When I was 8 or 9, I was with my grandma and we ran into Mr. Salk in a department store. My grandmother walked up to him, hugged him and said, here is one of my grandchildren that your vaccine saved her life (my grandma had a heavy Russian accent!). He shook my hand and said he was pleased to have helped me!
“also to protect those around me who can’t be immunized”
!!! I can’t convince my own husband to get a flu shot because he never gets the flu. It’s not all about you…
Note that there is a shingles vaccine on the market, Merck’s Zostavax. There is a competitor, GSK’s Shingrix, in the approval process but not yet approved… GSK claims a higher level of effectiveness for Shingrix in trials.
Zostavax appears to cost around $225.
I always tell people “you never get the flu until you get the flu.” I had it exactly once when I was in my late 20’s. I missed at least 8 days of work. Who can afford to do that these days?
I missed 3 weeks of work when I got influenza because I got a secondary pneumonia. People often mistake mild viral illnesses for the flu. When you actually get it, there is no comparison. I’ve never felt so sick in my life. Fever 104-105, body aches were excruciatingly painful. It was horrible, horrible, horrible.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-measles-20170120-story.html
New measles outbreak in L. A. 20 people infected. Measles is highly contagious. The virus stays active for 2 hours in an infected room…
Measles is SO easily spread.
I got the flu once as am adult. That was enough for me. I always get the shot I know it doesn’t always work because there are unexpected strains of the virus. But it’s better than nothing.
I was surprised when my gyn/ob told me that if I tested negative for HPV, I would have to get pap smears just very occasionally in the future, because the absence of the virus means there’s no way I can get cervical cancer. That’s amazing!! What a gift for our daughters, the assurance that if they get the vaccine, there’s one cancer they don’t have to worry about.
@Hanna -
Your H’s argument is the one I had with my D. I am grateful that she has finally decided that the people around her are worth protecting, particularly since in every other aspect of her life, she is a giving, caring, empathetic person. She just doesn’t like shots. It took 4 people to hold her down at age 4 1/2 to get her booster for K.
I had the flu once because I didn’t get a shot as I was pregnant that year and it was when they proscribed the flu vaccine for pregnant women. I missed 2 1/2 weeks of work and. once, when H put me into the bathtub to try to lower my temperature, I thought about drowning myself to end the pain but I just didn’t have the energy.