My D20 had RSV at 16 weeks old. She wasn’t high risk and didn’t qualify for a vaccine. I agree it was very scary!
What is RSV?
The point of vaccinating the herd is to also protect the lone person who couldn’t be vaccinated. For example, suppose a mom takes her 2 month old to Starbucks. Innocent enough. Mama drinks her coffee. A nice family walks in and the children see the cute baby and come over and oooh and ahhhhh. Well, one of those kids just exposed the baby to chicken pox. And that baby was too young to be vaccinated…
One is contagious two days PRIOR before the pox show up. Chicken pox is highly contagious and is spread through the air or by contact.
Approx 12,000 people are hospitalized every year with complications from chicken pox. Serious complications include death.
Years ago, in the early 90s, prior to a vaccine, my colleague’s 8 yo daughter developed chicken pox. She was hospitalized. She has permanent hearing loss.
The vaccine has saved lives over the years. Why would anyone want to roll the dice with their own children, or risk the lives of someone else? Same true with the MMR vaccine.
Who told you this? At 18 your child is legally no more than a stranger when it comes to healthcare privacy. In SOME states, younger teens can make SOME health decisions (reproductive health, mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment) without the consent of a parent. The age varies. In some states it is as young as 13. Other it is a bit older. But never is it ALL health decisions until 18.
Probably this:
https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/respiratory-syncytial-virus/symptoms-causes/syc-20353098
https://www.webmd.com/lung/rsv-in-babies
I just started taking Keytruda, an immunotherapy drug, on New Year’s Eve. During my info session, the nurse practitioner said “no vaccinations at all.” Previously, on conventional chemo, I could have killed virus vaccines. I had a flu shot during that time, and was planning to get the new shingles vaccine, but waited, alas. (I had the old one 5 years ago.) The fall before that I finally gave in to my PCP’s suggestion and had the first pneumonia shot. Guess I won’t be having the second one on time. 
People with my disease currently take this drug for up to 2 years, if it is working and they aren’t experiencing significant toxicity. So no flu shot next year, probably. No boosters.
I have to say that I now feel vulnerable, really for the first time.
@Consolation , it is people in situations like yours that herd immunity is meant to protect. I believe that people who are able to vaccinate their children and do not do so are not only behaving selfishly, but immorally. We do have a duty not only to ourselves and our own families but to the communities in which we live, and vaccinating our children is one example.
Before the RSV vaccine, they had 2 years of monthly infusions during the 5 high risk months (Nov-March) My daughter got those for 2 year and they did work like a miracle. It was awful having to get a 4-8 hour infusion but it kept her healthy. Of course the following year she didn’t need the vaccine because that would have been a lot easier. 
The infusion years were 1996-98 (my daughter got them Nov '96 to Mar '97, and then again Nov 97 to March 98), and they only gave them to high risk infants at that time and I’m not sure what they do now with the vaccine. The infusions ran anywhere from $5000 to $10,000 per month, depending on how long we were at the hospital. I don’t know what the vaccine costs.
We were not offered either a vaccine or an infusion 25 years ago and in fact the doc said to keep the baby away from public places because of the “flu.” I never heard of RSV until he was diagnosed with it.
The infusion program was really very small because it cost so much and really wasn’t sustainable for a large group of babies who ‘might’ get RSV. My daughter, born in Jan 1996, was lucky she had a pediatrician who nominated her for the program. My friend, whose daughter was born in May 95 and also was a micro preemie, was not put into the program and she got RSV. If my friend would have know about the program, she would have fought to be included. I, on the other hand, didn’t really know about it, was asked to participate, and I said ‘sure.’ I also had fantastic insurance at the time and it didn’t cost me anything (except days off work). I got a lot of things like home therapy visits for my D while my friend had to go to a clinic. I was really very lucky.
I was sorry to read this story in the news today: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/23/an-anti-vaccination-hotspot-near-portland-suffers-public-health-emergency-over-measles/?utm_term=.79d23307c016
23 cases of measles in the Portland, OR area. 18 patients are between 1 and 10 years old, and 20 had not received the measles vaccine.
Just horrifying. Can we wall off the anti-vaxxers?
My ex-H lives in Clark County where the measles public health emergency is. I doubt he’s gotten a measles booster (he’d do it if his doc suggested, but wouldn’t think to seek it out). Certainly hope he doesn’t get it.
The case here in denver was an adult (about 50 years old) who got measles while traveling. I don’t think anyone knew what it was because they listed all the places she’d been - an Urgent Care, a pharmacy, the hospital ER and then another medical place. It took them a week before they figured it out.
This hits too close to home!!!
Uh oh… now I’m thinking about MY measles booster!
Back 30, 40 or 50 years ago when I was a kid – before today’s cancer drugs existed – everyone went through the right-of-passage of coming down with measles, German measles, chicken pox, etc. But now, with the advent of immunosuppressant cancer drugs, an entirely new population of people is vulnerable to devastating effects from these “childhood diseases.”
Be considerate of this ever-increasing population of vulnerable children and adults – get vaccinated both for their sake and for yours.
Practically everyone went through it. Not everyone survived it or survived it unscathed. I think that’s what many today forget because they only hear the stories of success from the survivors. Actually, even many of the survivors have passed on now due to age. I recall my grandparents telling me oodles of families had a member permanently affected in one way or another. Now it’s rare, made so by vaccinations and folks from their era being quick to embrace them. With that rareness comes the naive belief that those days can’t or won’t return.
My father has a lifelong heart problem as a result of measles complication.
I had to get a measles shot when I enrolled in professional school at a local U a few years ago, so phew.