Well, the inevitable has happened and I have this week received two brown envelopes through the post that I have been dreading for some time now. Until the envelopes arrived, I could just stay undecided for that bit longer but now they are here, I really can’t put it off anymore and I need to make my mind up.
Swine flu jab – to do or not to do???
My two youngest tiddlers have been ‘invited’ to come along to the surgery to have their Swine flu jabs as they are both in the under-5’s category. Now, I must say that I am not normally anti-imms at all – all four of my children have had all of the recommended jabs included the combined MMR and to be honest, I have never before questioned whether or not to have them done. But the swine flu jab is different and I know many other parents share the same dilemma of whether or not to have it done.
There just seems to be so much conflicting information and the whole thing seems to have been so rushed through too which makes me even more uneasy. Like anyone else, I guess it is all about weighing up the pros and cons of these things but when you don’t know if the arguments for or against are reliable, then it makes it so much harder to decide. So many cases that you hear of seem to be so extreme and I can’t seem to be able sort from the wood from the trees as it were to find some middle ground.
There is some comfort in the fact that I know that I am not alone in being undecided but I just don’t know what to do. To be honest, my gut instinct says not to have them done as I still have so many doubts. But if I don’t get the jabs and they were to contract the dreaded Swine flu, then how could I ever ever forgive myself? I keep going round and round in circles and the more I look into cases for and against – the more confused I am!
At the primary school where my ten-year old daughter goes, which is also attached to the nursery where my three-year old goes, there have actually been several cases of children having Swine flu but this was back in September/October and there have been no more recent outbreaks. In my mind, I can’t help but think that if she was going to contract it then she would have done by now and then passed the lurgy on to the rest of us including my two youngest. But I know that this is quite an irrational way of looking at things as I know there are so many other ways for the virus to be passed on and I know their age makes them all the more vulnerable.
So that’s where I am.. Basically, errrr no further than I was when it was first announced that all under-5’s should be immunised! I would so love to hear if you too have had to make this decision and my hope in posting this blog is that it may go some way to help me to make my choice….
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