What do you think about vaccinating later on in life?

[pattigirlny]

I am wondering if grown children get vaccine related injuries? I can understand not wanting to bombard a baby or small child with unnecessary toxins....but if a grown child is considering the military or extreme travel, what would be the proper way to introduce any vaccines and which ones should or should not be administered. Do side effects still come into play? What about immunity?

[emmy526]

Originally Posted by pattigirlny 

I am wondering if grown children get vaccine related injuries? I can understand not wanting to bombard a baby or small child with unnecessary toxins....but if a grown child is considering the military or extreme travel, what would be the proper way to introduce any vaccines and which ones should or should not be administered. Do side effects still come into play? What about immunity?

As far as i know, when you join the military, you are their property to do with as they see fit..this includes a barrage of vaccines, sometimes, experimental ones at that.  and i also conclude (from what i've been told by military members) there is no way to refuse them if you join.  Traveling? Well i would think it is up to  the individual to research what disease is where they are going to travel and make an informed choice on the issue. 

and lets not forget the teens who are being injured by the gardasil vax....

[pattigirlny]

I want to know if any side affects occur in teens or adult who receive their first vaccinations...as well as if they need as many as babies seem to 'need' and are bombarded with soon after birth. I also read one can get titers to see see if they have been exposed to certain diseases and already have antibodies against them.

[mamabeca]

I am in just this position.  My dd is 13.5 and considered a trip to rural Tanzania where diptheria, polio, and other preventable diseases, as well as non-vax diseases, are in the population.  It was a tough decision to refuse her, but we said that she could go IF she got all the shots and paid for the trip herself.  That wasn't going to happen, so she passed the opportunity, but she is certainly old enough to START looking into these ideas.  She has never had a vax, but I think now that she is menstrual and nearly full grown, she could think about an adjusted schedule.  If we decide to do this, we will discuss w/her ped. how to move forward.He has been supportive till now, so I trust him to help us move forward with caution keeping her best interests in the forefront.

I hope that helps answer your Q.  if you don't have an MD that you trust or like, I'd find one.  It isn't an easy decision to do this, but it may be the best thing for your dc, that depends on what is happening in their life.

[mamabeca]

btw - I have had many vaxs since being an adult, because I worked overseas for a few yrs. in Africa.  The vaxs are not fun, and they did have side effects, like sickness - diarrhea, fever and vomiting - but they were directly related to the illness contained in the vax., nothing else.  

I think it is certainly possible for a 'vulnerable' individual to negatively respond to a vax as an adult.

[positivemovment]

I am very interested in this topic as well. I am sorry I don't have any info for you other than I am also considering vaccinating my children later in their years for travel. They are both very young now so we have much time but I just wanted to add another interest comment because this is a very good question to put out. If any families have already experienced this please share! :)

love n respect

[mkreager]

Many of the vaccines are not needed later, because the cases of adults getting the disease are so rare. Or because adult cases have much milder reactions. Some are not even approved for indiviuals outside the ae ranges. However when it comes time then to have your own children, whether or not you are immune to these diseases can be cause for concern (possibly). But I don't know if there is any research on the side effects in age groups outside of the intended. I know the tetnus shot causes horrible reactions in my husband and father in law. I however had no problems at all. My guess based on my experience is that it is similar to children. Some have horrible reactions and some (really lucky) ones have absolutely no reactions.

Titering is an option when it comes to travel concerns. To make sure there is immunity to the dangerous diseases. That way you can skip unnecessary shots.

And we use the military as guinea pigs so they get ALL the shots including ones we will never even hear about 

[Taximom5]

Originally Posted by mkreager 

Many of the vaccines are not needed later, because the cases of adults getting the disease are so rare. Or because adult cases have much milder reactions. 

Even though I question the safety and efficacy of most vaccines, I still disagree with your statement.  Many of the childhood diseases (mumps, measles, chicken pox, etc) are much more serious in adults than in children.  And rubella, while one of the mildest of viruses in both adults and children, can cause horrible problems for babies in utero.
 

[Marnica]

Side effects can occur at any age. How many vaccines are "needed" by a teen or adult would depend entirely on the circumstances (possible travel and any other risk vs benefit analysis that may apply

 

Originally Posted by pattigirlny 

I want to know if any side affects occur in teens or adult who receive their first vaccinations...as well as if they need as many as babies seem to 'need' and are bombarded with soon after birth. I also read one can get titers to see see if they have been exposed to certain diseases and already have antibodies against them.

[jaeh]

I am just beginning to vaccinate my kids, 7 and 4.  They will not need as many booster shots either.  My doctor is pro-waiting as well as believing in giving fewer vaccines at one time.  The only drawback is more visits will be needed to get them in.  But we have plenty of time.

[mkreager]

Originally Posted by Taximom5 

Even though I question the safety and efficacy of most vaccines, I still disagree with your statement.  Many of the childhood diseases (mumps, measles, chicken pox, etc) are much more serious in adults than in children.  And rubella, while one of the mildest of viruses in both adults and children, can cause horrible problems for babies in utero.
 

I was actually refering to the rotovirus in particular. There are a few others but as my children misplaced my book this morning I can not list them for you. I also said that the fact that you may have children later is a factor.  
 

[mkreager]

Also HIB, Pc and Pertussis. Which are most severe in the first two years of life. So yes you can still get them. If these diseases are a worry to you then it might make sense to get a child vaccinated for them while they are the most risk to get a severe case of the disease.

[nia82]

Well, once they are 18, it's up to them and no longer my decision. I would consider some vaccines earlier if we were to travel, but we won't travel to places were polio is endemic or other diseases are raging (we travel to Europe only, maybe the US Virgin Islands, and that's it). 

As for the military, you have to get all the shots they want you to give, you have no say (DH is Air Force, so we know). Apart from that, reactions happen to adults. I had a miserable 6 months long reaction to the MMR (which was a requirement for the green card), I had no visible reaction to DT nor chickenpox (though no titers, even after 4 shots). Even as an adult, I would only do one vaccine at a time and draw titers before deciding. I know plenty of adults who received tetanus booster way too early and they had bad reactions. It's well worth checking titers before vaccinating, I always do that now, though I won't have to do it again for a couple of years. The only vaccines I consider for myself are DT and further measles (I can get that in Europe) boosters if necessary as I do not have natural immunity to that one and it stinks for adults to have it. I woudl never get another chickenpox one again since it's obviously not working for me. I'm not considering to travel to places that require yellow fever shots or other exotic shots.

[Corn&Beans]

My kid who went to MA for college found that it was hard for him to get a religious exemption, so he chose to get the shots instead of changing schools (he's in Cambridge). He developed a fever of 104+ from the MMR, untouchable with ibuprofen. acetaminophen, etc. Not fun. He had first round at 8 weeks including acellular pertussis (special order only at the time), but we stopped at that point because he had reacted so poorly with the high wails for 2 days, huge swollen leg, and more.

My next kid thought he would like to join the military at some point, so as an older teen, we started in on getting him the minimum adult shots he would need for school. According to the above college, he only needed Td & Hep B, since he has a serious religious objection to MMR (yes, that is all the college required). First Td - no problem. Second, still with no pertussis part, he became shocky the next day, and developed an arthus reaction where his arm swelled up about 2x from over his shoulder to below the elbow. He had previously reacted to penicillin with serum sickness, which is a similar Ig problem. The doc ruled out the possibility for military service, and said he could not get more Tds.

Interestingly, my mother swelled up in the 1960's from Td, and she assumed it was from contamination with the horse serum, since she is allergic to horses. That is not an ingredient anymore - Perhaps there is something genetic here!

I delayed so I would be able to recognize problems if they happened. I am highly chemically sensitive with food allergies and asthma, and I was concerned that we would pass that on to our offspring. I have been assured that what I have could not possibly be genetic, but perhaps I am throwing a predisposition to Ig problems. Glad I waited.

[purslaine]

I would not vax a child now for potential travel later.  Save the vaxxing for when there is a need, not just a possibility.

To be honest, I would not go anywhere I needed a bunch of vaccines to travel to.  The world is a big place - I would just go somewhere else.  I can travel and see a lot of the world without getting a bunch of vaccines.  

As per a child - I would be disinclined to let a person under 18 get multiple vaxxes to travel to places.  I would feel some guilt - but not as much as I would feel if they had a reaction to a vaccine.  the closer they get to 18, the more say they can have in the matter - but they would have to prove to me (as the parent) that they had done some research on the matter before i would sign off on any vaccines.

As per myself:

I had a TD booster about 5 years ago with no issues.  

I had a MMR at 17 (don't ask - totally unnecessary) and felt horrible for the day, as did much of the kids I received the vax with.  I was literally hallucinating in math class.  I had no long term side effects - but hallucination points to either a high fever or some sort of neurological reaction.  Knowing how my body reacts, I will not do that vax again.

[Katie8681]

My mother did not have me vaccinated as a child. When I was 15 and participated in high school sports, I chose to get vaccinated rather than continue to jump through the religious exemption hoops and after doing my own research on vaccines. I was fine, had no reactions. I lived in Kenya for 2 years in my early 20's and got many vaccines in a short amount of time, like 2-3 weeks max, including yellow fever and rabies. I had no reactions and there were no reactions among the 49 other adults of various ages in the group I was in, other than soreness at the injection sites. 

[purslaine]

Originally Posted by Katie8681 

 I had no reactions and there were no reactions among the 49 other adults of various ages in the group I was in, other than soreness at the injection sites. 

I am not sure you can say this with certainty.  I doubt many of my classmates knew I was hallucinating in class after an MMR injection.

 Moreover there are 2 types of serious reactions:

-Instant, often allergic reactions, which I am sure you would know about 

-a more long term reaction.  I know many will not consider long term side effects wrt vaccination when they are making a decision (because they are often unprovable) but some will.  The I'm Not Vaccinating forum is full of stories of people who believe vaccines might have contributed to their allergy or immune issues.  You would never know about that sort of thing.  

[Imakcerka]

In the military you are now allowed to get out of certain vaccines if and only if you have a medical history that shows actual proof that you should not get said vaccine.  Like the flu shot now has a list of ailments and allergies.  I'm so vaxxed at this point I don't even care.  Vaccines are the least of my personal worries. 

[Taximom5]

Serious reactions to the MMR may occur as long as 3 weeks after the vaccine was given.

[Katie8681]

Originally Posted by kathymuggle 

The I'm Not Vaccinating forum is full of stories of people who believe vaccines might have contributed to their allergy or immune issues.   

Yep, I know. That's why I thought I might post my experience of being one of a group of people- and now that I think about it, there were hundreds of others in country who had the same mega-vaccine experience- and we have been fine. No I haven't followed up on everyone asking if they have lupus or RA, but we are in close contact. Everyone is fine. My experience in Kenya ended in 2005 so it's been 6.5 years. You tend not to hear from the "silent majority" on threads like this.