I have a friend in the USA who is pregnant and not willing to vaccinate her baby once its born. This is due to the fact that her family has had bad reactions to vaccines in the past - apparently one of he family almost died after being vaccinated.

I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of web based resources (apart from the CDC website) that they think might help.

or even someone with expertise in the Denver area.


Thank in advance

If there's a high chance of reaction, it might not be the best idea to get vaccinated, this is where herd immunity comes in. The best advice to give would be her to talk it over thoroughly with her doctor.

Paul G wrote:If there's a high chance of reaction, it might not be the best idea to get vaccinated, this is where herd immunity comes in. The best advice to give would be her to talk it over thoroughly with her doctor.

Agreed. As we know, there are bullshit pseudoscience reasons for avoiding vaccinations, but this may be something different altogether - and maybe quite reasonable. She needs advice for her specific situation. Paul G is right: talking it over thoroughly with her doctor is her best bet.

All of the authors are in Denver and should have the relevant expertise to help your friend decide if the reactions described suggest a real genetically based intolerance of a freak event and some confusion about minor reactions. From pubmed, click on any name and their publications appear, choose one where they are the first author and this will usually provide links to their email address, but at least to their institution at the time.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21810637

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2011 Aug;165(8):749-55.
Safety of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in children aged 24 to 59 months in the vaccine safety datalink.
Glanz JM, Newcomer SR, Hambidge SJ, Daley MF, Narwaney KJ, Xu S, Lee GM, Baggs J, Klein NP, Nordin JD, Naleway AL, Belongia EA, Weintraub ES.
Source

Institute for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, Denver, CO 80237-8066, USA. jason.m.glanz@kp.org
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:

To evaluate the safety of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) in children aged 24 to 59 months and to evaluate the risk of medically attended events (MAEs) in a subcohort of children who had multiple annual doses of TIV over their lifetimes.
DESIGN:

Self-controlled screening study.
SETTING:

Seven US managed care organizations from October 1, 2002, to March 31, 2006.
PARTICIPANTS:

Children aged 24 to 59 months who received at least 1 TIV dose (66 283 children and 91 692 TIV doses). EXPOSURE: Vaccination with TIV.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:

Medically attended events in inpatient and emergency department settings in one of the following risk windows: 0 to 2, 1 to 14, or 1 to 42 days after vaccination. All MAEs that met the screening criteria of incidence rate ratios (IRRs) exceeding 1.0 and P ≤ .05 or IRRs exceeding 2.0 and P < .20 underwent medical record review. A secondary analysis examined the risk of MAEs in children who had multiple annual lifetime TIV doses.
RESULTS:

Nine diagnoses met the screening criteria. After medical record review, gastrointestinal tract symptoms (IRR, 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10-1.25), gastrointestinal tract disorders (7.70; 1.11-53.52), and fever (1.71; 1.64-1.80) remained significantly associated with vaccination. None of the events seemed to be serious, and none had complications. In the secondary analysis, there was an apparent dose response for vaccine and allergic reactions in the 1- to 3-day risk window.
CONCLUSIONS:

There was no evidence of serious MAEs following vaccination with TIV among children aged 24 to 59 months. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the risk of MAEs in children with multiple lifetime TIV doses.

PMID:
21810637
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]