TDaP vaccination and troubles

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shortygreyhere

New member
I honestly don't understand what is so hard about waiting minutes at a health clinic to get a free vaccination in order to protect your future grand baby, great grand baby and niece/nephew from possible diseases.

The responses I have gotten so far:

"Pretty sure I have mine." - Okay, fine. Can you please take ten minutes out of your day to go to the clinic and have them double check?

"Never heard of having to get a shot to be around a baby before." - Because many of these diseases were dormant because people got their vaccinations.

"I'm scared of needles." - Try being pregnant.

"I got mine in '62. I don't think they expire." - Effffff Grandma.

"You are being overprotective." - You know what? Maybe. But it's our child and our decision. Get on board or see ya when they are old enough to get the shots themselves.

You'd think I asked them for their left kidney!

Anyone else have any trouble with this??
 
@emeraldradiance I'm going to have to use this exact statement. I don't wanna be "that B*[sup]&$"[/sup] but especially my step-mom who was an anti-vaccer with her son, I know I have to be forceful.
 
@shortygreyhere My mom - who works in healthcare - is fighting me on this. My brother & SIL? No prob, they're happy to do it. Hubs already had his, he's good. I get mine in 2 weeks.

But my mom? Arguing with me STILL on this!!! We live in a county that has one of the highest pertussis rates in the entire damn country, and she works in a hospital building, and she knows damn well how dangerous it is. And she still won't get it!!

Her excuse? Well it's mostly the immigrants who aren't vaccinated and you aren't around them. Sure, that's the majority around here (big Russian, Mexican & Honduran populations) but you know what, Mom? YOU ARE!! You spend time in the same friggin' building as tons of people who are high risk, 5-days a week!

I'm being firm on it, though. Deal with it, Mom. You get your fucking shot or I'm not going to be cool about it. I am very easy-going overall with this kid business, and if I'm making a demand - like grandma, who wants to be around her first and only grandkid all the time - getting her fucking tdap? Well, then you get your fucking tdap!
 
@johnboy99 She has no excuse! Really a bit surprised she isn't on your side. My MIL is a critical care nurse and she vaccinated the in-laws before my niece was born! Hell, our 85 year old grandmother even got it!
 
@bnj Seriously! I mean, we argued on the phone for 15 minutes about this, and we don't have arguments. We're really close and respectful of choices the other makes. I do not understand her!

I mean, what's the big freaking deal about getting a simple shot - which she can get for free at work - if it means potentially protecting your grandkid from a possibly lethal infection?! Gah!

She's such an intelligent, level-headed person, too. I am baffled on this one. Thankfully my brother is on my side here, and is starting to pester her about when she's getting her tdap shot. =)
 
@johnboy99 I'm actually surprised she doesn't have to be up-to-date on her vaccines for her job! When I worked in the NICU, I had to prove I was fully-vaccinated, had to get titers drawn for some diseases, and get yearly flu shots+tb tests
 
@starfruits Well, she's not a nurse or someone who has medical interaction with patients - she's more administrative/director kind of work. The nurses and patient-contact staff are required to have everything, but the non-contact staff isn't.

She's up to date on everything else, though - gets her flu shots (required) and does the TB testing (required), and yet for a massively communicable disease that wreaks havoc in our county - especially with the elderly and little kids - nope! Not required.
 
@johnboy99 I'm actually surprised that she's not getting the vaccination... I thought if you work in the medical field, you're required to get vaccinated? (At least, that's the way it is here in GA... My friend works for a hospital and it's mandatory to sign up for a time slot to go into a particular department to get your shots. Then you flash your badge, they mark you off as "done" and you're good until the next round. If you refuse to do it, they will fire you on the spot).
 
@shortygreyhere I have really really bad - like violent, auto immune, maybe hospitalized bad - reactions to vaccines.

I know I'm being the bad guy here, but I do think you are out of line asking anyone who isn't you or the child's father to get a vaccine. As would anyone else. They aren't without risk (I'm not talking autism, so don't.. go there please). That is a personal health choice. It really does come across as the pregnancy version of bridezilla.
 
@akeeda I don't think you're being the bad guy at all! In fact, I actually agree with you for the most part. =)

But if it's somebody who will have close contact with your baby on a regular basis, to the point the baby stays at their house and whatnot, I think that's a little different.

For somebody like my in-laws, who live out of state? No, not gonna worry about it. But my mom, who will be here night & day for the first few days she's in the world with us, and who will be around her constantly, I put her in the "caregiver" category - know what I mean? =)
 
@johnboy99 Yeah, I understand what you're saying. And I think if you have that relationship with your mom, that's great. But to insist that every family member who comes to visit be vaccinated is a bit much. Do we also quiz about sexual history and if someone has had peanut butter in the last six hours at the door? Where does it stop?

I think part of the issue is that we've been advertised into thinking that vaccines are no big deal like hand sanitizer, and the honest truth is that they aren't that simple or easy. For most people they aren't an issue, but it's still not something to be casual/insistent about, particularly with all the vicious hate non vaccinated people get now days. I mean, I have legit medical reasons to not get vaccinations, people still tell me I'm an idiot and I hate science and I'm killing children, and some have even told me that even if it DOES give my child brain damage (like it did to one of my closest friend's kids...) that my child isn't as important as the whole and I have a job to protect other people's children, even if it damages my child or myself. It's a very sensitive and personal issue, and one of those things that you don't get to be insist or mean about because you're the pregnant person. Also vaccines aren't magic, I don't think a lot of people understand how they work. It's not a force field against germs, and in some cases vaccinated people can still be carriers of a disease even if they don't get it themselves, so it doesn't help if your three year old nephew who goes to daycare has a diphtheria vaccine, he can still be an asymptomatic carrier, which a shocking number of people don't know. (http://www.nvic.org/vaccines-and-diseases/Diphtheria.aspx)

Not all vaccines are bad (flu shots are pointless IMO, but hey, if perfectly healthy people want to pay $25 a pop, whatever), and I AM grateful we live in a time where so many horrible diseases are controlled. Our child will be getting SOME vaccines, but on a very altered schedule and no combination ones whatsoever. They aren't as simple as taking an aspirin, and it's a very personal thing that needs to be respected.

Edit: I would like to point out that I do think it's your right to vaccinate or not vaccinate as you feel is best for you and your child, and both are equally valid, and more importantly, your right. I just feel like I have personally been greatly disrespected and seen great amounts of disrespect from those who believe that vaccinating is the only option, and as such this is a very sensitive subject for me that I am personally very defensive about.
 
@akeeda
But to insist that every family member who comes to visit be vaccinated is a bit much.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that's really what she's implying. And when it comes to people with reasonable concerns about getting the vaccine, if they mention that I'm sure most parents would understand.

I think the issue with pertussis is that adults can have very vague symptoms for weeks before it gets severe enough to seek treatment and during that time they're contagious and passing on the illness. Considering how many sick people are just fine with insisting that they aren't REALLY sick, that it's JUST a cold or JUST allergies, that's a little scary.

I'd agree more with you if someone were asking people to be fully vaccinated against everything and inspecting their vaccination records prior to letting them see the baby, or being especially hateful in the way they went about asking people to get their booster, or insisting that someone get a vaccine who couldn't for whatever medical reason. That really doesn't seem to be the case here, though.

Sorry if I rambled or sounded ranty. That's not really my intention.
 
@jacknife "Can you carry the whooping cough bacteria without knowing it?
You likely can't carry or spread whooping cough if you don't have any symptoms. If you've gotten the vaccine, though, you could have symptoms that are mild and still be infectious. You may have cold symptoms first and later a cough."

http://www.webmd.com/children/vaccines/whooping-cough-and-the-dtap-vaccine

It's one of those situations where, to me, it gives a false sense of security. The best defense is, as always, common sense. If your family member looks or sounds snotty, don't let them in. WASH hands, don't just use hand sanitizer, limit who holds babies for the first few weeks, etc.
 
@akeeda To me, it's whatever you, personally, are most comfortable with when it comes to your kids. At the end of the day we all want to do the best we can. I just couldn't see exaggerating what she was actually asking people to do, which was really the point of my previous (rambling) post.

I wrote a long thing and then realized that it can be shortened a lot to this one statement: Parents have a right to refuse uncooperative visitors, and family has a right to not visit if they feel parents' demands are unreasonable. As long as parents have done careful research (just like you've done) and have solid reasons for the route they've chosen, it's generally unfair to pester them about those decisions.

I guess what really irks me is that too many families feel fine saying no to little requests (I've heard of people refusing to wash their hands, refusing to not smoke around a newborn, showing up sick...) and getting offended when they aren't allowed to see or hold the baby.
 
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