Gillian's vaccination

Meant to blog about this earlier but forgot! Gill got the usual consent forms from the SHS for vaccination. Well, measles and dipth are mandatory by law so I dutifully filled out the form, giving consent to those. I only withheld consent for polio.

Until two or three days before the SHS visit, I realised that they were going to give both the MMR and the DT shots on the same day. Not a good idea. Bad enough they don't offer single shots for diseases which they say are mandatory for vaccination. So we have to live with the DT (diptheria + tetanus) and the MMR (mumps, measles, rubella) but I always wonder how the powers-that-be plan this sort of thing? Would they like the thought of being pumped with a cocktail of 5 different diseases + any attendant preservatives and chemicals at one go?

The only reason why they would do this is out of convenience, so they don't come back another day for another round of shots. Convenience as a factor vs health implications to the immune system, now that's real logical. Unfortunately that's also the same reason cited for the many vaccinations that babies are subjected in the first 1 to 2 years of life - convenience.

So me being me, I wrote a nice note to the teacher to say I object to one of the shots (but was kind enough to let them decide which one!) if they were both going to be given on the same day. I gave Gillian strict instructions to refuse the oral polio and to call me if they overlooked my note and wanted to give her both shots.

Instead it was the nurse who called. All very pleasant and civil - she didn't ask why I didn't want both shots on the same day, just asked which one I would prefer her to take. So I chose DT. She gave me an appointment for vaccination at the SHS at HPB a month later. But later I realised that a month later meant clashing with the PSLE, so no way I was going to jab her around the PSLE dates. The following month means clashing with the Japan trip - so forget it. Looks like its got to be in December then. But then, if she's retained in P6 this year, I might just forget about vaxing her this year altogether and let the SHS deal with it when they come round next year.

Gillian came back with home with a sore and stiff upper arm. She said she was the envy of her friends for not having two injections that day! Later on, I noticed her upper arm swelled up so much she could hardly lift it to take off her pinafore. The vaccination site was also an angry-looking red and was hot to the touch. All adverse reactions of course. I just pumped her full of Vit C to help boost the system. The swelling, stiffness and redness went away after a few days.