Would you vaccinate if you lived in a 3rd world country?

[AlaaJ]

I am new to the whole vaccine issue. I vaccinated my first 2 kids dutifully, no questions asked. With kid 3, I kept having to put off vaccines (vaccines were pricey, then we were moving, then he had a cold, etc.) and before I knew it, he was 10 mos old and still hadn't received a single vaccine. I felt guilty and the two times I took baby to the doctor I was soundly scolded for not yet vaccinating him - I was told I was unresponsible and taking chances because we live in the middle east and are exposed to more diseases than, say, people in the US. I then came across a few articles about the inefficiency of vaccines, the many possible negative side effects, etc. I'm now rethinking vaccinating him at all. I know that the only vaccines available here are in sets of 4 or 5 vaccines. So even if I wanted to selective vax, I doubt it would be possible.

My main concern is - is my kid, living in a 3rd world country (Jordan, with an influx of Iraqi and Syrian refugees thrown in) more at risk for more diseases than his 1st world counterpart - and therefore more in need to be dutifully, responsibly vaccinated??

[dakotablue]

If it were me...Yes I would vaccinate. But only those vaccines that show a lesser risk and are a danger. Not much help, but my gut yes I would.

Here I've only started with DS being 2 and DTaP. that's the only one so far that made sense to me.

[slmommy]

I live in a 3rd world country (South American), do you know what are issues/outbreaks in jordan or vax they use there?

My daughter did get BCG (which I regret), hep B (which I regret), and 3 rounds pentacel. They use oral polio like crazy here, huge campaigns, so I wanted her to get the injected polio.  I also wanted her to get DTaP, and was ok with pentacel personally, but I also did the Hep B separately from that and spaced. She is almost 2 now.

I opted out of rota and prevnar, men C (which they do 3 months, 6 months and 15-18 months here), yellow fever is given in some high risk areas, which we are not, I´m putting MMR on hold for undecided amount of time... as Hep A doesn´t usually bother children too much I´m not interested in that right now, nor Chickenpox, Flu, etc.

How are vax given there? for example, vax are never given by the drs here, you have to go to a clinic (pay private), or a public health post (free but DTP instead of DTaP, oral instead of injected polio, etc.)

I have been to two different clinics here and one was good and did exactly what I asked (and my pedi agreed on), another tried to push the other vaccines we were missing - not going back to that one! It is kind of nice to have the time this system allows - no split decisions in front of pressuring dr. can take time to do more research after discussing with him and make your own decision.

Edited by slmommy - 1/27/12 at 5:28am

[purslaine]

 I would research it from a middle east perspective.  What are his odds of getting individual vaccine available diseases where you live?  How is the health care where you live?

Treat diseases and vaccines individually and do not make any decisions until you are more sure.

I realise I have not answered your question - the answer is :  I don't know.  I would need to research more and if I did it at all it would be selective and delayed.

[quantumleap]

I'm not living in a developing country, but I am staying in one for three months, and I did not vaccinate my children before we came. We had to get the yellow fever vaccine to get in to the country, and I really did consider not coming just because I didn't want to expose my kids to the vaccine. But, the draw of family (my parents live here) won out, although I still feel guilty about it. 

Anyway, yes, living in a developing country is going to affect your decisions, but only a little, imho. The issues surrounding vaccines don't change with your surroundings, really. The effects on little people's bodies and brains are the same no matter where you live. The potential side effects from the vpds are nearly the same, no matter where you live. It's true, you can't rely on herd immunity in anywhere close to the same way, depending on where you are, though. I don't think relying on herd immunity is a very ethical or wise thing to do anyway, but I can see how it would come in to play. 

If you have visitors coming from the US, you should be able to get them to carry you single dose vials of any vaccines you want that are available where they are, if you can find a physician there who is willing to prescribe it. 

My own philosophy is that good nutrition, hygiene and common sense can help a person avoid many illnesses and to lessen the severity and/or complications when they do get sick. It is still a calculated risk though, and only you can say if you're more comfortable with the vaccine or the potential complications from a vpd. 

Tough decisions, hey?