Did you get the flu vaccine?

I did.
I weighed it up and decided that for me, the possibility of a risk was outweighed by the very real risks if I got a bad dose of it.

No point in worrying about it now and really, this is just the beginning of many difficult decisions you have to make around the health and wellbeing of your child.

Try not to stress and beat yourself up over it, you can't change it now and chances are it is stress over nothing.

hila1 wrote: Now I have read that it has never been tested on pregnant women, and there is a possible link to autism in the babies of pregnant women who had the shot.

It is correct that it wasnt tested on pregnant women, but the minstry of health wouldnt recommend a vaccine to be given to pregnant women unless they knew that there was minimal risks to the baby and the women. They are very paranoid (which is good in this case) with pregnant women and medications.

In terms of autism and this vaccine, it hasnt been in use long enough for a research study to have been done on this. The vaccine only become available last year (in tablet form, not sure about injection) so any research that suggested a possible link with autism wouldnt be medically credible and they wouldnt be able to say it for definate either.

You did what you thought was best for you and child. I had the vaccine due to the fact that I work in a hospital but now regret it as I havnt been allowed to work since May so my exposure risk is lower than I thought. Dont stress over things that havnt been proven.

i got it after being preg..which turns out wasnt a great idea cause DS allergic to egg but anyway.. i agree with the others particularly caramel on this one.. i had an encounter with someone who was being treated for it and didnt tell me...grrrr but anyway i didnt want it while preg but I totally understand why people do and its good to know the newborn will have protection for a little while too!

Medsafe actually states on their website that is not recommended for pregnant women and it is written in the package insert as well, I was confused as to why it was then being recommended to pregnant women, not sure the motive behind that.

Yes the vaccine is untested and more worryingly it has ingredients in it that have never been tested in any vaccine. The other issue particularly around pregnancy is that it contains thimerosal which was removed from all vaccines on the childhood schedule in 2000 because of it's risk (it's a mercury preservative, and it passes the placenta and the blood brain barrier). The autism worry comes from this, this preservative is still used to some extent in the US which is why the debate still rages over there more than here, this is entirely seperate to the whole MMR autism debacle as MMR has never contained thimerosal.

I doubt your doc knew it wasn't recommended, knew it was untested or even knows what's in the jab cos sadly they just give out whatever is on the schedule or whatever is recommended.

You've had the jab though so their isn't much you can do and hopefully you and baby will be unaffected. I would however spend a little more time looking into the vaccines that they recommend for your child and also to look into all medicines you are prescribed, as much as doctors should know and should give the right advise that isn't always the case and ultimately your health/your childs health is your responsibily and not your doctors.

CaraMel I am sure her intent wasn't to make her feel guilty or scare her.

Rather, perhaps the information could be helpful to her for any further suggestions by her doctor, or for the multitudes of other women who read this forum every day!

Often doctors do just give out drugs without checking the fine print, and often people don't know to ask the right questions to get the information and advice on vaccines.

All she did was answer with factual information, explaining what the medsafe data said, as well as the ingredients of concern, and gave her some advice to do her own research and not necessarily rely on one doctors advice! Doctors are human too, they sometimes make mistakes, and they don't know every thing!

From reading the other posts if I was preg and considering the swine flu vaccine i would think it was totally safe, but it isn't.

I am sure hila1 will be just fine, as will her child, but if people are considering this vaccine they need to hear that it isn't reccommended by medsafe before making that decision!

I don't see where that says it is safe. In fact it says Safety of use during pregnancy has not been established; benefits of vaccination should be weighed against potential risks.

Doctors used to think Thalidomide was 'safe' for pregnant women and we all know how that turned out.

Ha, I just read that too melissag. It says exactly what I based my decision on "benefits of vaccination should be weighed against potential risk"

People have such passionate views on this and you can understand why, they don't want to be told that they made the wrong choice.
It is such an individual thing though and I think all we need to know as parents/parents to be is that it is important to do our research at reputable sources of information and make the choice that feels right for us and our families.





Edited by caraMel

I included the link so that people could read the whole fact sheet for themselves, too much to cut and paste.
The info sheet is for vaxigrip.
I researched the vaccine before I had it and weighed up the rsiks and benefits.
Thalomide is exactly why medical professionals are so paranoid with pregnant women and I am glad they are. They wont test any drug on pregnant women and I doubt anyone would let them do that. I posted the sheet because incorrect information was being given saying that it shouldnt be given to pregnant women. Medafe does not say that.

My post was trying to achieve getting people to actually research what they do before they do it, and to stop hila1 from feeling this same way about another vaccine later down the track. If you research then make a decision you can be sure you have made the right one, if you don't and you rely on other people to make the decision for you then you run the risk of feeling like you've done the wrong thing or regretting your decisions when you find out things that you didn't know at the time. You cannot rely on a gp to know everything about everything, they don't have the time to research everything, they are the jack of all trades in medicine, which means they are the master of none. It's up to the individual or in the case of children it is up to the parent to do the research, to get opinions and advice from doctors but not just to do what they say cos it's easier than taking on the responsibility yourself. Vaccination in nz is run on an informed consent basis, yet time and time again I see people consenting with little or no information.

mellisag the part I read stated that the vaccine was only recommended for women with complications such as asthma and diabetes and not all pregnant women, yet the MOH information recommends it for all and this is what doctors have gone by, this I do not understand, how can one department only recommend it for a subset of pregnant women and another recommend it to all?

The rest of what I wrote was intended to give hila1 information on what the issue is with this vaccine so she can research that. I wasn't trying to make her feel worse, I was trying to give information and some advice.

I had it when I was 30 weeks, I now have a beautiful healthy 4 month old girl, who is bright and vivacious and thriving.
Also when my DH was sick for 2 weeks with flu this winter, me and bubs were disgustingly healthy.
They wouldn't make the reccomendations if they didn't think benefits outweighed the risks, and the anti-vac brigade love to link anything to autism. I swear you'd think belly button fluff was the latest thing to developmentally delay our babies!!
Don't beat yourself up, you did what you thought was right for you and baby. So did I, and so did thousands of other pregnant women out there who now have happy healthy babies xxxx

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy. big hugs to you xxxx