I choose to vaccinate my kids, I feel if it affords them the difference between illness or death then its worth the risk. So far we've been exposed to whooping cough, measles, chicken pox and mumps with none of us catching any of them. I guess we are lucky.
My GP actually told me when I had my WC booster last year that its ADULTS spreading the disease. Theyve noticed alot of adults in their 50's and older who are suddenly catching the disease even though they were vaccinated as children and realised that the vaccination must have worn off; allowing them to catch and spread the disease. Alot of these people are probably grandparents and have no idea theyre at risk of spreading the disease to children. Which is why they have now started the campaign for booster shots for all those adults who come into contact with kids on a regular basis.
I wonder how many people would think to just wander into their GPs office and have their immunity tested. I had it done for my nursing degree and have amazing immunity for everything from varicella to Hep B and C. I had to have no boosters whatsoever. I was vaccinated as per the schedule 26 years ago and caught chicken pox naturally at age 6. My sister just had to be tested in order to work in a healthcare setting as a social worker and she had to have boosters of Hep B, MMR and something else because her immunity was low enough to put her at high risk of contracting and spreading any of those diseases. So it proves the theory that different people get different immunity from the vaccines; we were both vaccinated the same yet I have the higher immunity.
Last edited by Freya; February 25th, 2011 at 11:06 AM.
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