Tetanus Vaccine...what are your thoughts?

[vermontgirl]

Both of our children (ages 5 and 3) are completely unvaxed but so many people have told us that we should at LEAST do the tetanus shot for them.

We are gardeners, we have animals and are always playing in the mud and dirt.

Talk some sense into me either way. I am on the fence.

[shiningpearl]

I've been on the fence with this one as well, but since they stopped making the tetanus portion by it's self, it has become a no brainier.  There are many threads about this subject on here.  Children really aren't at risk especially from a minor injury.  Teach your children to let injuries bleed and get cleaned, keep some H2O2 in the house.  

We use a religious exemption for school and feel that by giving that one shot as a preventive we would be risking our exemption.  I used to try to figure out how to get it with out it being recorded, just for my own piece of mind, but not that you can't get it by itself, I've learned as much as I can about it and made peace with myself.  

As for playing in the dirt with cuts and what not on your hands, think about using superglue or the liquid bandages.  I use super glue for all my paper cuts and any straight fine cut that won't scab well. 

[emmy526]

First of all, quit listening to other people and their opinions...secondly, read up on tetanus, how its contracted, and how its prevented, and how there are a minute amount of cases in the USA, and most are in the elderly and drug abusers.  Also look up the vaccine and its ingredients, and chemicals, and how injecting those things into your child is going to prevent anything.  

[slmommy]

If you decide to keep them unvaxed, you should look into tig and be familiar with that in case an injury ever comes up that would be concerning...

I was pretty shocked the other day, a momma on these boards posted about her LO's injury and ended up going to ER for tig, where the nurse told her tig is only for treatment in confirmed case of tetanus. 

[Mama Soltera]

I though I had started a thread a few weeks back about my children (who are older than yours) being totally unvaxed and spending a lot of time at a farm where there are lots of horses and cattle and such. They wear shoes when they're out there but I did want to ask about the risk factor of tetanus.

But the thing I really wanted to discuss was what I read in the Red Cross's latest training and information and first aide guides. These are supposedly competely up to date and on the up and up. They have a brief section about tetanus and say how you can get it from things like rusty nails. How is it, when this is reviewed and backed up by doctors, experts, and professionals, that it can possibly say this? It really confuses me and I'm not sure who to believe. One of my kids did step on rusting metal a long time ago and was fine, but can we talk about how this verified and basically 100% accepted literature can say that if it's not true? I'm very confused.

[Mama Soltera]

slmommy, do you have a link for the tig? I've never heard of that before.

[slmommy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mama Soltera 

slmommy, do you have a link for the tig? I've never heard of that before.

Here is an insert in of one of the brands

http://www.talecris-pi.info/inserts/hypertet.pdf

Tetanus Immunoglobulin... It is not a vax but I think called a "passive immunization," it is a blood product and would carry all risks of that. Basically it is antibody from people who have been vaccinated, and would reduce risk of tetanus after a serious tetanus concerning injury.

On page 3 it explains which wounds and vax history would indicate tig in the ER, (they would also push td or dtap if you presented needing tig).

[vermontgirl]

Originally Posted by slmommy 

If you decide to keep them unvaxed, you should look into tig and be familiar with that in case an injury ever comes up that would be concerning...

I was pretty shocked the other day, a momma on these boards posted about her LO's injury and ended up going to ER for tig, where the nurse told her tig is only for treatment in confirmed case of tetanus. 

Good point. I will make sure I learn about this for the just in case scenerio. Thanks!

[emmy526]

https://www.vaccineshoppe.com/image.cfm?doc_id=5972&image_type=product_pdf