Interview 27

Brief Outline:

Newborn screening showed the baby was a haemoglobin E carrier. The mother was also found to be a carrier, but the father was not affected.

Background:

Married couple with one child aged 4 months. Father aged 35, market trader. Mother aged 29, full-time mother. Ethnic background/nationality' father half Arab, half White British, mother Thai.

Her son who had an egg allergy had no reaction to his MMR vaccine.

Because he's allergic to egg white, in which the vaccines are cultured, they, the medical staff felt that it was safer for him to have his jabs in a controlled environment in case he had an allergic reaction, so that he could be taken care of quickly and effectively. And so we took him to hospital. He had his MMR jab and was absolutely fine. Had absolutely no reaction whatsoever to it, not even a slightly swollen leg or any, you know, anything at all, he was absolutely fine. But he will be having his MMR booster in hospital as well, just to make sure that he's okay.

So there wasn't any reaction at all?

Nothing at all, no, absolutely fine.
 

Concern that her son's egg allergy might cause a reaction, led him to have the MMR vaccine in hospital.

Our youngest son had an allergic reaction, I can't remember what age he was, but quite a severe allergic reaction, and we took him to the doctor. They identified it as an allergic reaction. And then he went to hospital to have some blood tests done, one of the results of which was that he was allergic, mildly allergic to egg white. They're still, he's still in the process of having further blood tests taken, and we haven't received the results yet of those, to find out whether he's allergic to anything else, and there's been a broader spectrum of allergies that have been tested. And because he's allergic to egg white, in which the vaccines are cultured, they, the medical staff felt that it was safer for him to have his jabs in a controlled environment in case he had an allergic reaction, so that he could be taken care of quickly and effectively. And so we took him to hospital. He had his MMR jab and was absolutely fine. Had absolutely no reaction whatsoever to it, not even a slightly swollen leg or any, you know, anything at all, he was absolutely fine. But he will be having his MMR booster in hospital as well, just to make sure that he's okay.
 

She decided against single vaccines because it would take longer for her sons to acquire immunity from the diseases and there was measles and mumps going around where they lived.

The only immunisation that we really had to think long and hard about was the MMR, because there was quite a lot of controversy about at the time when he had his first MMR. And basically what I did was listen to a lot of other parents, who all had various views on it, and there was also a lot in the press at the time, on the television, in the papers, and listened to that and, you know, read up on that. And we basically understood that if he were to have the three separate jabs, there would be quite a large time lapse between the times that he'd be allowed to have each of the three, during which time he would be at risk of contracting one of the three, or rather the, you know, the second two, the mumps and the rubella, if he had the measles first. And there was I think measles and mumps going round in our area at the time. And we basically took the decision to have the, the single jab for him so that he wasn't at risk to catching either of those. And that's really how we made our decision. And he didn't have any reaction to it at all. And then he had his booster three months or so after the first jab. And because he was fine with those jabs we then proceeded to do the same with our other two sons, who have both subsequently been absolutely fine, haven't had any adverse reactions at all to the jab.