Which vax did you skip - and why??

[HappyMommy2]

Rather than asking what you ARE getting, I would like to ask the opposite question. What are you NOT getting for your kids?

I'm new to this topic, and I read the sticky about everyone's "selective or delayed" schedules... but frankly it was totally overwhelming and a little hard to follow.

So - here I am trying to selectively vax a little late in the game.

DD is almost 2 and DS is almost 4. Both have been mostly vaxed until about a year ago. DD is breastfed, and would be EBF if she had her choice... by that I mean she prefers her milkies over everything and doesn't eat a ton of solids.

I am going to have to put them in daycare a couple days a week, and need to schedule a doc appt. I'm assuming the docs are going to want to "catch up" and so I need to be informed and confident in my decision about what we want and don't want.

Please send me your thoughts and ideas, thanks!!!!!

[alegna]

In your shoes, signing up for daycare, I wouldn't catch up right now at all. I would submit an exemption and take some time and research each disease and vaccine individually.

-Angela

[HappyMommy2]

Ok - so which ones did you skip? I see in your other posts that you skip the new ones. So, besides Rotovirus, what else is new that you skipped for that reason?

thanks!

[carriebft]

We do:

DTaP: we do this early because we want the pertussis protection as soon as possible, as pertussis is most dangerous to infants. We also do it because we feel the disease is still risky in terms of prolonged illness, pneumonia, cracked ribs risk, etcetc even when the child is not an infant. The information and data out there tells me this vaccine is pretty effective- def not the MOST but still effective- at prevention and, when it fails, it can greatly reduce the symptoms and severity of a pertussis infection.

We also travel to endemic D areas, so my husband wanted that.

Hib: We originally did not do this vaccine at all as I had missed a few appointments and then hit my "stopping vaccination until I learn more" phase. I put it off and only ended up getting it when I had a child in a school situation and an infant at home. But now I get this one pretty much on time after learning more about how effective it is and how a lot of myths talked about online are not true-- example: people like to claim that the overall meningitis rate has risen since this vaccine when that is not true.

In addition, southeast Pa, where I live, recently had 7 hib cases, all in unvaccinated (and 1 kid had had 1 dose) and 3 died. Another suspected case was also a death. This solidified my decision.

MMR: We do this one but delay it a bit. Research shows that it is more effective if given later. We especially wanted the measles and rubella protection. We found it to be highly effective and also prevents transmission, so by getting the kids vaccinated I could also prevent the baby from contracting it.

I looked into the autism complaints and found them to be complete rubbish. For more information on why, just look at the transcripts from the omnibus autism trials-- everything is nicely laid out here:

http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/189/

IPV: travel reasoning, delayed a bit when we could except when travel was sooner



Considering but not there yet:

Prevnar (the new one): if all looks good, we might consider the new prevnar for any future kids or even youngest DD depending on when it comes out. I would want to know how it effects things such as drug resistant ear infections-- which the older prevnar seemed to create an increase in.

Hep A: endemic area travel-- mostly lean away from this one though because it's usually so mild in kids.

Skip:

Influenza

Rotavirus

Chicken Pox (will get later if no natural immunity)

Hep B (later since mostly blood/sex transmission and low risk in our family)

[alegna]

Originally Posted by HappyMommy2

Ok - so which ones did you skip? I see in your other posts that you skip the new ones. So, besides Rotovirus, what else is new that you skipped for that reason?

thanks!

On the new front, I ruled out all vaccines that were not on my childhood schedule- so that included- hep b, hep a, prevnar, hib, rotavirus and chickenpox. I researched each, but a lot of my thinking came down to- those weren't something we were scared of- has anything changed? And I didn't find that anything had.

-Angela

[PlayaMama]

the ones i will for sure skip are:

hep b - low risk of infection

chicken pox- i don't think it's that bog of a deal and i'd like to avoid postponing it until later, ds did get vaxed for this one and i totally regret it.

probably polio - really low risk of infection, i'd think about it if we lived near an immigrant population or traveled at all.

will probably get eventually

dtap- diptheria scares me a LOT and tetanus worries me too. pertussis, eh, not so much and i know that the vax doesn't promise that the disease will be all that much easier, the odds are that it will though.

mmr- i find measles concerning too. mumps and rubella not so much but i don't think the vax is all that awful. i will be waiting until my youngest is older, like 5 probably, just because.

[ShineliketheSon]

this is a good thread...wonder if more moms will post their skips.?

[HappyMommy2]

Originally Posted by ShineliketheSon

this is a good thread...wonder if more moms will post their skips.?

Me too! Help us out Mamas. :-)

[GISDiva]

I was actually going to post this exact thread, so thanks!

[Evergreen]

I will post which ones I get:
1. DTap at 3 years (3 shots total with the last one after age four). My oldest has already had Pertussis w/in the past 5 years so she gets a pediatric td

2. Polio (3 shots total once DTaP is finished for the little one. My older child who just gets Td gets Polio and Td together.

3. MMR (I think they will need 2 shots total) will get after they are finished with the other two series) I haven't decided if I am going to do them separately or together yet. Probably together since my children will be older and heavier by the time this happens.

[Altair]

I did a combined DTaP/Polio/Hib preservative free shot at 2, 4, and 6 months because we were doing some early international traveling.

I'll start Hep B around 9 months, and MMr around 18 months, then I'll be done.

So skipping:
Prevnar, chicken pox (if we can get it wild), rotovirus, influenza.

I based my decisions on the NYC school requirements and our own travel needs.

[femalephish]

We're skipping: Chicken pox, Hep B (will get when 10-12 years), roto, flu (I'm getting my seasonal flu shot, though), MMR (but not because of Autism, I am just not afraid of those illnesses.) HPV (depending on how it does in the meantime- I would get this one for her around 10-12 years too)

We are getting DTaP (one dose already) and HIB basically on schedule. One at a time, though, with a month between each dose. We will likely get the Polio vax when DD is older, eventhough her risk of getting it in the states is tiny. I have to assume that she will do some mission work (like I did around high school/college age) and there is still a risk in other countries. But there is no need to give it to her now when she is so little.

We are on the fence about Prevnar. My doc (who I trust and is pro-selective vax) recommends it but I am not sure. I guess because I don't really understand it... More research needed!

[crunchy_mommy]

We're skipping:

Flu (I don't feel the shot is effective enough and the flu is generally not severe in healthy people)

Chicken pox (Made with aborted fetal cells, plus I'd rather have him get natural immunity since again, the illness isn't that severe)

Rubella (Same reasons as chicken pox)

Hep A (Made with aborted fetal cells & not high risk)

Rotavirus (Just seems like yet another unnecessary shot to me)

Prevnar (Too new, not well studied, seems ineffective & contributes to "superbug")


We haven't done these yet & I'm on the fence on them:

Hib (I never heard of this before having a kid, I don't like the idea of bacterial vaccines, but I think it's one our new pedi recommends so we need to discuss/research a little more)

Heb B (Not high risk but we have no other "real" reason to avoid it, we may do it down the line)

Measles, Mumps (Will consider these if the separate shots do in fact become available in 2011)


We are doing dTap, not sure if we'll continue the series, and we might do polio though I'm really not sure at this point


Not sure if that covers all the vaxes or if I forgot some...

[hapersmion]

Next time, we'll skip flu (and most likely swine flu), hep B and A, chicken pox, and rotavirus. Oh, and HPV, I guess, I don't even think about that one when I think about vaccines.

We might skip prevnar and Hib entirely - at most we might get one dose.

We'll probably do at most three DTaPs, and probably delay them, maybe skip the pertussis portion entirely if there is a good DT available.

One dose max of MMR, split up if possible, and delayed by several years.

We'll do polio eventually, but there's no hurry unless we go out of the country, and I would have to look into the number of doses.

[not_telling]

DS is 14 months. He's had 3 HIB and 3 DTaP and 1 Polio so far. This year (i.e. before he's 2) we will do one more HIB and the rest of the Polio series.
Probably will do MMR at 2 years.

We skipped rotavirus. We've decided, after much back & forth and researching, to skip the Prevnar (7) ...may consider the new one. This is the one the doc keeps pushing on us and I'm not looking forward to saying that we've decided to not get it. Skipping Hep A.

Want to skip Hep B and Chicken pox, but they are required for school in my state and we're in that precarious position where a school can access our vax records, so if we claim an exemption we're in a tough spot if we decide later on to get another vax. Skipping Flu, too.

[carriebft]

I remembered this thread after posting in another-- I think we will now be doing Hep B as the situation has changed in DH's family so we now feel that it would be prudent to get earlier.

I still waiver on chicken pox because of the whole shingles thing...

[haydn'smommy]

If they were both vaxed until 1 yr ago, they really shouldn't need much of anything. Your 4 yr old would probably "need" DTaP, IPV, MMR, Chicken pox, and those can be given any time between 4 and whenever. So, I'd research and decide which of those you'd want and when/how you'd be comfortable with getting them. The 2 yr old probably "needs" DTaP, Prevnar and/or HiB, and I'd probably do the Prevnar and HiB.

[wookie]

great thread. :

[wildnewmamma]

I agree

[Harmony08]

Originally Posted by carriebft

We do:

DTaP: we do this early because we want the pertussis protection as soon as possible, as pertussis is most dangerous to infants. We also do it because we feel the disease is still risky in terms of prolonged illness, pneumonia, cracked ribs risk, etcetc even when the child is not an infant. The information and data out there tells me this vaccine is pretty effective- def not the MOST but still effective- at prevention and, when it fails, it can greatly reduce the symptoms and severity of a pertussis infection.

We also travel to endemic D areas, so my husband wanted that.

Hib: We originally did not do this vaccine at all as I had missed a few appointments and then hit my "stopping vaccination until I learn more" phase. I put it off and only ended up getting it when I had a child in a school situation and an infant at home. But now I get this one pretty much on time after learning more about how effective it is and how a lot of myths talked about online are not true-- example: people like to claim that the overall meningitis rate has risen since this vaccine when that is not true.

In addition, southeast Pa, where I live, recently had 7 hib cases, all in unvaccinated (and 1 kid had had 1 dose) and 3 died. Another suspected case was also a death. This solidified my decision.

MMR: We do this one but delay it a bit. Research shows that it is more effective if given later. We especially wanted the measles and rubella protection. We found it to be highly effective and also prevents transmission, so by getting the kids vaccinated I could also prevent the baby from contracting it.

I looked into the autism complaints and found them to be complete rubbish. For more information on why, just look at the transcripts from the omnibus autism trials-- everything is nicely laid out here:

http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/189/

IPV: travel reasoning, delayed a bit when we could except when travel was sooner



Considering but not there yet:

Prevnar (the new one): if all looks good, we might consider the new prevnar for any future kids or even youngest DD depending on when it comes out. I would want to know how it effects things such as drug resistant ear infections-- which the older prevnar seemed to create an increase in.

Hep A: endemic area travel-- mostly lean away from this one though because it's usually so mild in kids.

Skip:

Influenza

Rotavirus

Chicken Pox (will get later if no natural immunity)

Hep B (later since mostly blood/sex transmission and low risk in our family)

I don't want to make this thread about autism but I just had to point out that the studies that you linked to looked into whether mmr or thimerosal has anything to do with autism. Not whether or not the vaccine program itself has a connection to autism. In these studies they tested vaccinated kids against vaccinated kids. There has yet to be a study which compares vaccinated kids to unvaccinated kids so we can't know anything for sure.