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MMR Booster?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Is this right, I saw the clinic nurse this week for a combined review of ongoing stuff and she mentioned having a MR booster. Apprently the surgery if offering them to 16-24 year olds (esp girls) as a protection against Rubella. I'll happily have it (esp. as so many parents are not vaccinating their kids these days - DONT get me started on that!) but has anyone come across having a boster in their late teens/early twenties.
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those age groups are not picked because they were "missed", it's because they fall outside of the GP contract which states that they should already be vaccinating others. As a result we are paying GPs separately...
If it wasnt, why dont they give it to older people too if we need some sort of herd immunity?
I think it's assumed that pretty much everyone 25+ will have natural immunity, cause of the high incidence of all three diseases when they were younger.
I've not had any part of the MMR, but I had measles and mumps as a kiddy, and I had a seperate rubella vaccine (although might have already been immune to that, as my brother had it and I didn't catch it off him) so I suppose I have some degree of immunity to all three now?
The problem now is the gap between the older, naturally immune people, and the younger ones who had the proper MMR dose.
The hysteria about these diseases is just so the drug companies can push their products at people as though theyre necessities.
The vast majority of the time it doesnt though.
Measles in children can lead to inflammation of the nervous system which then can tragically cause brain damage. This is a rare but very real consequence of the disease.
Diarrhoea 1 in 6
Ear infections 1 in 20
Pneumonia / bronchitis 1 in 25
Fits (convulsions) 1 in 200
Meningitis / encephalitis 1 in 1000
Death 1 in 2500 to 5000
Serious brain complications years later (Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis) 1 in 8000 (of children who have measles under 2 years)
(from medinfo).
There is currently no cure for measles, you can only attempt to treat the symptons.
Rubella is incredibly dangerous to pregnant women even more so because it is not unusual for people not to realise they have it so can be unknowingly transmitted. It can also lead to serious complications for others. Do these statistics show you why?
Damage to unborn fetus (multiple defects common) 9 out of 10 pregnancies (in the first 8 to 10 weeks)
Damage to unborn fetus 1 in 5 to 10 (between 10 and 16 weeks)
After 16 weeks damage is rare
Bleeding disorders 1 in 3000
Encephalitis 1 in 6000
(medinfo again)
Mumps can lead to infertility and takes a long time for adults to get over, as an example most students who get mumps end up having to repeat the year; temporary or permanent deafness; and like measles can affect the nervous system. It can also permanently reduce fertility.
Swollen, painful testicles 1 in 5 older males
Deafness (usually gets partly or completely better) 1 in 25
Pancreatitis 1 in 30
Meningitis / encephalitis 1 in 200 to 5000.
I hope that gives an idea as to why vaccination is important. :banghead:
That would be why there's a flu vaccine for high risk groups!
Vaccines are not without risks themselves though, especially when you bombard a small childs system with 3 seperate diseases that they would never naturally be exposed to all at the same time.
But the risks are far far lower than those posed by the disease. I had an allergic reaction to my BCG vaccination and even then there's no way I would turn back time and not have it done.
Can i ask why? Why take him for the first one but not the boosters? Just interested.
Yep hes had all his injections.
There are strict protocols for reporting adverse drug reactions and copies go to various places to ensure pharmaceutical companies cannot 'brush it under the carpet'. There are situations and people for whom some vaccinations are not suitable, that's why they ask questions.
Did you not have one in your last year of school or something? I was meant to, but I was too ill the first time and the second time I wasn't given a form to have it done. So, I had to wait until June of this year to have it done.
... and so we vaccinate those at risk.
... because the vast majority of the population are immune, thanks to the vaccination programme.
Oh, and I am sure that it is just a coincidence that the take up of MMR has reduced and that the biggest outbreak in 20 years happens Details
And the first death in 14 years Details
Or that since the pledge by the WHO and UN Children's Fund to reduce deaths by measles, through vaccination, the number of deaths annually around the world has dropped from over 870,000 to 454,000. Details
... sadly, you are wrong. Funny how perceptions can be so misplaced, isn't it? In this case you are placing someone else's life at risk. As you say, your choice.
This paper here looks at over 27,000 children over an 11 year period and shows no connection between either MMR or mercury and autism.
In fact, looking around apart from the comments of Dr Andrew Wakefield (who is now in front on the GMC), there is no scientific basis for suggesting that the MMR vaccine is unsafe.
None.
Not one paper.
Anywhere in the world.
..which, in fact, actually has a worse record for "linked" side effects that than one you worry about...
It's one thing to have a healthy distrust of the pharma indistry and your national Govt. It's another thing to fly in the face of, pretty much, every medic in the world.
No I'm sure I was supposed to have them but that was around time they stopped doing the BCG's so they never got done. I had all the other at secondary, meningitus, BGC at school and polio/tetnus/diptheria at the surgery. I will proabably get it done next time I go for a check-up as I dont fancy any of those diseses as an adult.
If your off to uni or anything, get it sooner rather than later.