I recently took a friends child to have his plaster cast removed.We were talking to the nurse while she was doing it and she told us(can't remember how we got on the subject) that TB injections in our schools have been stopped UNLESS the child is NOT white british.They now only give TB jabs to children from mixed race or ethnic backgrounds.
Now to me this is racism....it has been kept totally quiet with letters going out to white families explaining that TB jabs are no longer needed by SOME children.Should I contact local papers etc?
Nikki

Major Racism, especially, seeing as I believe TB is on the increase :( :(
I would complain but I dont know who to :(
Lea :)

I would most certainly - if this is one of the "urban myths" then it can quickly be scotched by proving at what age children are given the BCG vaccination - if it is true - well SOMETHING needs to be done - and soon!

Margot

In my experience the NHS is not a racist organisation but is very much evidence based.  If they are targetting a specific screening or treatment programme at a particular group it will be because they have evidence that this is going to be the most effective. 

>it has been kept totally quiet with letters going out to white families explaining that TB jabs are no longer needed by SOME children.

What did you think that meant?
Maybe we should smear test men to avoid any accusation of sexism ;)

I've googled a bit - it does appear that a few years ago there was a shortage of the BCG vaccine and it was only given to those children deemed most at risk, but it seems to be on line again now - see here :-

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/YourChildsHealth/DG_10026138

Margot

I would definitely check out what the nurse has said as she may have made a mistake.  My son is 16 and had BCG vac when he was 14. Before he had his BCG I had heard that they weren't vaccinating anymore which worried me a lot as I had also heard TB was on the increase.  He was older than my girls were when they were vaccinated (school yr 8) so perhaps there was a period of time when kids weren't vaccinated.

Your GP or school nurse will know.

This worries me :( My mother had TB as a teenager (many years ago now ;) ) so my brothers and I weer given our BCG as babies. As were our oldest children. My mother died before my youngest was born and she didn't get the BCG. Within a year she was ill in hospital with a suspected A-typical TB-type virus. She will be due her BCG at school in the next year or so. I hope this is sorted out before then.

TB is definitely on the rise although is more likely from Indian/Asian communities but in this world where all of us travel to the known countries the risk is there for all and I'm actually shocked by this! 

I am not sure the risk is very high unless you live in close proximity with a carrier.  I am sure the NHS has looked at the evidence before deciding on the appropriate groups to target.

My daughter (18) had hers done late because of a shortage I seem to remember, but it was done.

My daughter had her TB vaccine at 14 years of age because my Nana had just passed away from the disease :( That was only 7 years ago and we are all white British.

So it seems that not only are they targetting appropriate groups but picking up on individual families where appropriate too.

We have had the letter explaining that our daughter does not need it as she is white, her parents are white, we dont travel to high risk areas, it is true the letter does exist.
Not sure that I agree with it, but dont think theres much hope of her getting the jab without a very big fight.

What would happen if you relaced White wuith Black in the lettter???????
Now THAT would be racist!!!!!
Lea :)

They have explained why you are not regarded as at high risk, why would you want to fight for it.
It seems to me that we might have been able to counter the misconceptions about MMR if we had told people they were not in a group that was going to get it ;)

but hasnt TB been ALMOST eradicated due to the vaccine??? If they stop giving the vaccine, that would most certainly mean TB will incrase?????
And arnt we one of the only countries with a very very low risk of TB????
And seeing as there are so many illegal immergrants from countries where TB is prevalent, isnt it better that we keep up the TB vaccination program????
Lea :)

>And seeing as there are so many illegal immergrants from countries where TB is prevalent.

Are there?
I am sure the NHS will be re-evaluating it all the time but as I understood it it was just within the groups identified as described on the Netdoctor here

My mum had TB when my brother was 8 months old so we were all vaccinated and my sisters and I have always been advised that when it is time for the BCG to make sure our kids get it.  My son is now year 8 so I think I will have to look into this a little more.  We have had a few cases near here with TB and they have all been white.  Don't think I like the idea of not being vaccinated.  When my youngest child was born 8 years ago at 3 months of age she contracted Whooping cough and we nearly lost her due to the fact people were not having the vaccinations.  She now has a weak chest and always will have.

As it's airborn isn't everyone at an equal risk as in a multi-cultural society we all walk the same streets, work together in same offices, the kids mix in schools etc etc etc

Or am I mistaken?

If you look at the risk factors Rox,

>The disease is more common in areas of the world where poverty, malnutrition, poor general health and social disruption are present.
>In the UK, too, the number of TB cases is again rising. Alcoholics, HIV-positive individuals, some recent immigrants and healthcare workers are at increased risk.
>The disease is most commonly found in places such as hostels for the homeless, prisons, and centres for immigrants arriving from areas with high rates of HIV infection or inadequate health provision.

I would guess most of us are not at any great risk, and those that are, such as people who work in health care are routinely covered.
If you look at this from the other way and the government said we should all be vaccinated despite the majority of us being in a very low risk catagory, judging by past form, you could just imagine the grumbling :)

>We have had the letter explaining that our daughter does not need it as she is white, her parents are white, we dont travel to high risk areas, it is true the letter does exist.

Which department sent a letter that stated this?  It sounds bizarre to me because how can you differentiate risk purely on skin colour?  Are British born black/Chinese/Asian more at risk than white British children?   On the face of it that statement in isolation is nonsense.  If you have not had contact with TB and carry no antibodies to it you are as much at risk as anyone else, skin colour doesn't come into it unless I am missing something here.

>Are British born black/Chinese/Asian more at risk than white British children?

Apparently so, Cheryl, because they will most probably fall into the catagory of children with parents and grandparents that are unlikely to have received vaccination as children. 

>they will most probably fall into the catagory of children with parents and grandparents that are unlikely to have received vaccination as children.

That is not the same as deciding by colour alone.  If the NHS is choosing by colour how do they decide whether mixed race children get the vacc or not?  BCG vaccination was routine when I was a teen and there are plenty of British born black people who fall into this category.  Their children will be no more at risk from TB than my children and if the grandparents are living here they should be no more at risk either according to the current argument, unless they are working or living with TB carriers.

If here is any risk in the population I believe that people should be allowed to have the vaccination, afterall we were all routinely vaccinated against smallpox even when the risk was small and looked what happened to that.

I don't really doubt this is evidence based.  The NHS will, after all have available for their own audit all the data regarding who have presented with the disease.  If mixed race children have done or start to appear in the risk groups I am sure they will be included.
I think it perfectly reasonable to limit preventative medicines to where it appears to be needed but perhaps if people wanted it they could request it.  I'm not sure but I think it is much more treatable than Smallpox and certainly does not seem as virilent.

It's a dreadful illness that often leaves permanent damage.  I'm sure the NHS has weighed up the cost/benefit of providing vaccines based on risk analysis but I'm afraid the NHS doesn't fill me with much confidence these days.  I can understand the high risk groups being those working with unvaccinated immigrants but as TB can be carried 'silently' and passed on unknowingly every unvaccinated person is at a certain amount of risk. 

Actually it galls me that they dare cut back on vaccinating our children when immigrants can enter our country unvaccinated to start with and then are able to take advantage of our NHS that we and our parents have been paying into all our working lives.

The TB jab is now only being given to those in "high risk" groups, as it has not been shown to be cost effective in groups of people who are less likely to get TB in the first place. I can assure you that the NHS is not being racist, it is just that the risk is higher in certain populations. It has absolutely nothing to do with racism. The new policy has been public for some time, it is nothing new, and the press are already aware of it, so I wouldnt rush off to tell them, or you might look a bit silly.
Cathy
P.S. You  may be interested to know that the TB jab reduces your risk of getting TB, but does not eliminate the chance totally. It gives between 60% and 80% protection.

Well I replied yesterday with a link to show this is not a new policy it was changed in 2005 by the Department of Health & is not aimed by colour but by the population the child lives in, however someone has seen fit to remove my posting for some reason so here is the link again to the info about the change in policy I missed out at school back in the 1960's because I was off ill & was told by the education health officer that I wasn't in a high risk population so wouldn't be able to have it. In 1969 I went to Biafra in the summer & had to have a whole host of vaccinations including the BCG, I had a severe reaction to it & as a result of the multiple vaccinations in a few days now have a compromised immune system

The TB Alert site has lots on information about TB & the global & national positions. It is far more common in low income populations BTW & also is normally caught by close regular contact with a person with TB

The problem stems in people from the UK(whatever their race)going abroad & being in contact with TB affected people in usually third world countries & most people who have the really close contact are those of the same ethnic background as the country they visit

An area with a high ethnic population but ethnics are still the minority

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/6694637.stm

I'm not sure of your point Cheryl, the protocol as it stands recommends treating those in contact with anyone developing the disease and that seems to have been enacted here. 

I think it was short-sighted to have stopped the routine testing and vaccination of all schoolchildren.

I agree with JG.  If the vaccination programme had been left in place then the children living in this particular area wouldn't be at risk.  It wasn't until it was noticed that there was a problem that the action was taken which is shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted IMO. 

As it says in the report it is a very slowly developing disease so the horse is still stood in the stable :)

If my child/children were at a school where 14 children had the disease and 34 had an inactive form of it I would not think that the problem had been caught 'in time'.  For every child that has caught the disease there is a family and likely siblings both younger and older in nursery or secondary school plus parents who are likely to be working.  Slowly developing or not I think this number is way too high to consider insignificant.

I'm sure it is very worrying for the parents but these are tiny numbers as a percentage of the population.  I am not sure at all that it justifies blanket coverage for a disease of this nature.

Guidelines for those working with Children
This explains some more.
HTH :)