[mayoclinic.org]
According to the Mayo clinic you should get the vaccine.

As long as you are not having an active outbreak, you can get the vacine

I don't think it was given in the UK 60 years ago. My first was after an accident in about 1980 in Australia.

@FrayedBear Tettox injections/vaccinations were available here in Australia well before I started my Nurses Training back in 1972, they were an essential part of Immunisations for Trainee Nurses and had to repeated every 5 years.

@Triphid Well established and tested by the time I needed it!

But so laughing only just learnt that the disease that I was told killed my father - pneumonia can now be immunised against. I had my shot four weeks ago.

Pity ; at least education of the facts keeps
the group shrinking

@BBJong
Robert Kennedy Jr is one of them. No education of facts, no explanation will change the minds of these stupid people until a tragedy on their own child hits home.

rebels

Healthiest rebellion ever.

The woman was 36 when she caught tetanus-- too old to blame mommy for that.

@Carin What about the whooping cough? Not too old to blame her for that.
I stand by my statement.
No parent should get a pass for refusing to vaccinate their child.
Unless there are clear and diagnosed medical issues which prevent it,
it shouldn't be allowed to happen.
Every parent who doesn't get their child vaccinated should lose custody
of ALL their children, permanently.
I'm sick of this shit.
No excuses.

@KKGator I couldn't tell how old she was when she got whooping cough but thought she was an adult. I do agree with you 100% about parents not getting kids vaccinated; I just found it odd that she blamed her mom after she herself was free to get vaccinated as an adult and seemingly did not bother.

@Carin She was relatively uneducated regarding vaccinations. She'd been lied to all her life by her mother and grandmother.
People are influenced by their family, even into adulthood.
That article made it clear that she began getting vaccinations, but at great expense.
She also felt she had to keep it hidden from her mother.

Mom doesn't like to be questioned on her bullshit.
Just like a lot of others.
All the more reason to do it.
Some children are unable or unwilling to confront their parents.
I think that's a monumental mistake in nearly every incidence.
Especially not getting vaccinated.

I have friends who are so anti-vax they won't take their kids to the doctor at all for fear of the kids being forcibly vaccinated or something--to the extent that they chose to have their last with an unattended home birth! The boy has always looked frail and extremely small for his age, though not actually sickly. I'm not even sure they realize quite how far behind he is growth-wise, as they home school and he doesn't have any same-age friends. It's disturbing to me, but as you can probably imagine, you can't tell them anything. They are rather paranoid and getting worse.

@Carin I'd be turning them in to the Department of Child Services and filing charges of reckless endangerment with the local office the State's Attorney.
That's child abuse.
If you're concerned for the child, DO something about it.
Just from what you've described, it's clear they shouldn't have custody of any child.

@KKGator The kid has never been actually sick as far as I know...and the parents have not violated California law thus far. Some states are passing laws banning religious and other exemptions, but in CA the current laws only apply to kids going to public school, which they have legally circumvented. Their 2 older daughters made it safely to adulthood and are both estranged from their controlling parents...as I write this I wonder why I still consider them friends. They didn't used to be so odd...

@Carin Intelligent, sensible parents know enough to inform themselves. Smart people try to actually be right. This person's mother didn't. Like KKGator said, we need to call people on stuff like this.

@Carin As far as you know.
Seriously?
You're just going to let them slide?
Message me their names and pertinent info, I'll file the report if you are unwilling.

@Carin The internet probably changed them...made them smarter or sumpin'

@KKGator Hmmm...let's take an informal poll here--to report or not, and if so what to report? I haven't seen these folks since last summer but my daughter in CA sees them from time to time. Things sound about the same. The boy is clean and fed and his father in particular seems to dote on him.

@Carin Yet they continually put him, and everyone he comes into contact with, at risk.
I don't give a shit about an "informal poll".
There is a child at risk. Just because he's clean and fed doesn't mean he's not abused or neglected.
Like I said, if you're unwilling, send me their info. I'll do it.

@Carin I have a friend my age that does not believe in vaccinations and she has daughter in her late 30s that has a child and does not believe in vaccinations either... I just want to scream when they talk about vaccinations being poison.

@19dacar52 I'm especially shocked when those who are "our age" are anti-vax. I remember seeing kids my age with metal braces on their legs after they survived polio. As I mentioned earlier, a great great uncle died of tetanus.... young people haven't seen that kind of thing unless they've traveled to 3rd world countries, so you can maybe see why they are being so ignorant, though of course it's no excuse. Even my hippy midwife was pro-vax: she was in the Peace Corps and saw measles kill every kid in one small village somewhere in South America.

@19dacar52 So, go ahead and scream at them. It's not like your silence is doing any good.
I don't fucking understand why people are not being more vocal with those they actually know who are doing this.
There is NO reason for being "nice" to stupid anti-vaxxers, no matter who they are.
They are putting EVERYONE at risk with their stupidity.

Overuse and misuse of antibiotics is just as bad, if not worse, of a problem as failing to vaccinate is.

@Piratefish it is not good because the bacteria keep mutating, but it is not, not even close, to the times before we had antibiotics. Every hear ofThe Black Death? Bubonic plague, wiped out 1/3 of the population! Still around but yields to antibiotics, for just one example

@AnneWimsey Sadly, that might not be the case for much longer. We are already seeing the outbreak of so-called super bugs all over the world, and untreatable infections are becoming more and more common. Most doctors and scientists believe we will soon be seeing people die from common infections again, just like in the days before antibiotics.

@Piratefish I have heard thus for over 30 years now......and I cannot believe that we are not now Much better at inventing new antibiotics than we were then......
The real problem is the massive use of routinely putting large amounts of antibiotics into cattle/cows/chickens, thus giving bacteria a Huge field to play in.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Tetanus is very dangerous.

I honestly did not think it was survivable, period. Had a relative who died of it before I was born.

@BufftonBeotch i looked up tetanus less than 24 hours ago because, although i have had no wounds lately, my jaw has been aching, and my throat is sore. i took some ibuprofen, and took more six hours later, and it's time to take even more but already the pain is receding somewhat. it should be bad again now, and i should be grimacing, and i should be having spasms, if i had tetanus, but none of that is happening, so i'm okay. wish i didn't have whatever i have but it's not tetanus. this is good because i have really bad ptsd. i am definitely not an anti-vaxxer but i am not one of those people who are afraid of needles; i am one of those people who are TERRIFIED of needles because i woke up during eye surgery when i was three. i need surgery (a couple surgeries in fact, one on each eye for cataracts but those can wait, and more urgently a hysteroscopy because i am exhibiting signs of uterine cancer) and i can't make myself do it, the ptsd is THAT bad, even though i don't want to die and know i HAVE to have at least that one surgery. so i have not had a tetanus shot. if i had kids they'd be getting lollipops and cookies -- and hugs and kisses -- after every vaccination and totally inured to it, and not terrified like me, and totally protected. fortunately my mom vaccinated me with whatever was required when i was a kid (most of it BEFORE my eye surgery so i was okay with needles then, and the doctor's sisters baked cookies for kids who got shots, so i was REALLY okay with it!) tetanus is quite dangerous and i am super careful because i know i put myself at risk. i would never put anyone ELSE at risk, and as i say, if i had kids they'd be fully protected.

g

@Carin i am sorry to hear that. it is survivable... but not without, as i say, treatment AND luck. many, many do not survive.

lemme look up the survival rate.

"Current statistics indicate that mortality in mild and moderate tetanus is approximately 6%; for severe tetanus, it may be as high as 60%. Mortality in the United States resulting from generalized tetanus is 30% overall, 52% in patients older than 60 years, and 13% in patients younger than 60 years."

i am 67. i'd best be VERY careful!

g

@genessa Very interesting! I think my relative may have died close to a century ago--I'm sure things are better now, I just never thought of it since "everyone" is now vaccinated....or was anyway....what we need is a vaccine against stupidity now.

@Carin ah if only someone would develop such a vaccine! of course there would be antivaxxers who refused to take or let their kids take that one too lol.

g

@genessa I didn't have a hysteroscopy (yet anyway--I have no idea what's being planned) but they diagnosed me by biopsying my uterine lining. No shots, just very bad pain that really only did last to the count of 10 like the doctor promised. I hope you don't have uterine cancer like I do, but if so let's keep in touch as we are both just in the beginning of diagnosis. I'm just a couple years older than you.

@Carin that is called an endomitrial biopsy. i had one a long time ago and it came up fine. i attempted to have another and the doctor stopped because she didn't care for my screaming (i don't remember screaming but i know for a fact i didn't ask her to stop; had she continued i might not be going through what i am going through now). i went to a gynecological surgeon in october asking specifically for another attempt at an endomitrial biopsy. although that is what the appointment was for, when i got there he said he wasn't going to do it; i should instead have the hysteroscopy. he is a surgeon. 'nuff said. so i made the appointment for surgery in november and then got sick and couldn't have it, and when i got better i pooped out and now it's june. and here i am thinking about it and being terrified that no one will even TRY to give me another endomitrial biopsy because they get paid more for a hysteroscopy!

g

@genessa I was awake for most of my C-Section and could feel and hear everything but could not move.

Same thing had happened on a minor surgery as a kid.

Yeah. No one is cracking my chest open or any major surgery.

@genessa I hate to imagine what that must have felt like I mean your terrible experience with the eye surgery.

@genessa Yeah, after the biopsy I heard them in the hall--someone asking the doctor about the commotion! I take 5 advils 45 minutes before mammograms or dental work etc.--it really helps. But it didn't help with that I don't think. I don't think I was actually screaming but...

It almost sounds like you have some kind of immunity or resistance to anesthesia--I can see why you are terrified! But you are too young to give up on this in my opinion--they say uterine cancer is very survivable. Good luck to you!

@BufftonBeotch oof i am cringing!

g

@BufftonBeotch, @MST3K i don't remember the pain (consciously) but i have a vivid memory of the needle coming at my eye. it was my left eye but my memory until recently has been of of the needle coming at my RIGHT eye, which is normal because that's the one from which i would've been seeing and that's how it would've looked. lately that memory is correcting itself a little. i am pretty sure the docs never had a clue i was awake. i was premature and still tiny at three; they probably were afraid to give me much anesthesia. when patients awaken from anesthesia, doctors traditionally read this not as consciousness but as an unconscious physical reaction of the body, and increase the paralytic instead of the actual anesthesia. thus one is conscious but paralyzed and cannot say "hey i'm here!" i don't remember trying to do that. i think my consciousness was brief -- but i sure do remember it, and the terror, which i can still feel, 64 years later.

g

@Carin lol too young at 67 -- well, maybe! i have been advised to take a tranquilizer before an endomitrial biopsy. i declined, but i was ready to endure it. it's the doctor who declined to perform it, not me pooping out on it!

g

@genessa Ah, I thought you were younger, but 67 still isn't that old! I can never tell the difference with tranquillizers, can you? Now when they set my broken wrist 2 weeks ago, they gave me that white IV drug that killed Michael Jackson (begins with a P, I think) and that totally worked. The end of my ulna was completely somewhere else and I flat out told them they weren't coming anywhere near me unless I was unconscious.

@Carin back then there were no treatment options

@Carin i can't tolerate an iv. that's a needle!

g

@genessa I don't look! I can't!

@Carin i don't look and i don't let it happen, so there is nothing to look at. it hurts like hell and it makes me feel an uncontrollable terror, nothing to do with looking.

g

@genessa Aw, so sorry! Sounds like a waking nightmare!

@Carin it is, and the cataract surgery will be even worse, should i happen to get the hysteroscopy and survive, since my fear would well give me a heart attack on the table. ach, i am not trying to be a drama queen here. maybe i am not succeeding though lol.

g

@genessa Perhaps ask for an appointment with the anesthesiologist ahead of time to discuss your past experiences and your concerns. They tend to be wonderful caring people. I don't think you sound like a drama queen at all--you've had some truly horrible experiences!

@Carin i did, actually. i was denied. the reason for the denial is that they don't know until the day of the surgery which anesthesiologist will be on duty.

g

The injection is like $30-$40,
I work with metal- you should have a booster
EVERY 7 years ; I had a puncture and needed
stitches to heal.

@BBJong i am very much in favor of tetanus boosters and i'm not going to have one for the reasons described above. it has nothing to do with money. i'm insured.

g