Vaccination Issue

Sneakypuss have a chat to your GP. When I was getting all of my vaccines, I was informed by both my GP and the staff health nurse in the hospital where i work that chicken pox, rubella etc are live vaccines. Therefore, you can only have one vaccination combination at a time and have to have a certain time frame between various vaccines. Also you cannot fall pregnant during the vaccination program. Something about having 2 different forms of live organisms within your body at the same time. It was quite a while ago so I cant remember the specifics.

I don't want to be rude, so instead I'll be blunt and get straight to the point. You do not need a degree in medicine to know what I am about to tell you.

Viruses are not really 'live organisms'. They do not share the defined characteristics of living things. Living things can reproduce. Viruses can only reproduce inside a host, not on their own. Therefore, the varicella vaccine does not contain, or at least SHOULD not contain a live organism, as viruses - they're not really organisms. You're getting viruses confused with bacteria by the sound of things. This is simple knowledge. GP's might say a vaccine is 'live' but they are oversimplifying what can be a complex issue (there is scientific debate about whether or not a virus can actually be called a living thing). GP's are acute generalists and it is their job to give medical advice that is easy for the consumer, or patient, to understand.

Please don't keep saying that the varicella vaccine contains a live organism, because this is simply not the case. If it did contain a live virus, it would also contain a host (e.g. a human cell). Viruses are only really 'live' within a host, and if you were injected with a live virus, I think that you would get varicella/chicken pox.

You are sounding very silly and unscientific when you use consumer medicine terms. Do you even know what a virus is made up of? Please find out for me. I'm in year 12, and to answer that question, all I need to do is look at my Biology text, Biology in Focus HSC course. I'm sick of nurses not being able to answer questions that I know the answer to - basic stuff, practical knowledge... 3 years of nurse training and some of them don't even know what a mole (chemistry definition) is! Or, when I had my operation, they had to check with the surgeon - has he done enough poo to be clear enough for the ...colonoscopy?

For crying out loud, I want to be a nurse just like you, and we could be co-workers one day (after we both graduate from uni) so can you please learn your stuff? I have had a virus when I was 12 or 13 (the GP needed to check for meningoccal) and at the hospital the paediatric male nurse was a godsend. He could answer all my questions without having to fetch the doctor.

Sorry. I ranted and raved a bit there. Have met some very lazy, sloppy nurses who don't do the job properly. Good luck with your studies, check with a good GP (I could recommend Dr Peter Roach, or Dr Rebecca Roach - but this is out in Turramurra area... there's Kellyville Family Medical Practice (NSW 2155) though - ehm... do you live in Newcastle or are you commuter?) It's just that your neurologist is so specialised she probably doesn't do a lot of immunisations, unless that (immunology) is her sub-speciality). So a GP, or a GP practice nurse even - someone with more generalised knowledge who actually does immunisations and knows the pharmacology of them, would be better maybe.

Upcoming RN

If you read my first post, it was actually my NEUROLOGIST who said I can't have the vaccination because it contains a LIVE virus. I also said I was on an 'immune modulator' drug and you can't give a virus to someone who is immunosuppressed...like me

As per the Victoria Health Chickenpox Immunisation information:

Chickenpox vaccine
The chickenpox vaccine contains modified live virus
at a reduced strength and a small amount of the
antibiotic, neomycin.

(http://www.health.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/813/chickenpox.pdf)

I'm a matured aged student who was 6 credits short of finishing my law degree, before I decided I wanted to go into Nursing so I can work with people with MS

Good luck in your studies.

Upcoming RN I suggest that it is YOU that needs to actually check your facts before posting such statements! The below I have taken from the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance.

Vaccines
Two monovalent vaccines containing live attenuated
(weakened) varicella-zoster virus are currently available
in Australia (Varilrix® and Varivax Refrigerated). These
vaccines are both derived from the Oka varicella-zoster
virus strain.

Apart from the above I think that the Neuro in charge of a trial would know their stuff and be more than qualified to say what can and can't be given to trial participants.

If you are planning on studying nursing then you need to have a big change of attitude or you will not get far when it comes to prac and learning from those who have a great amount of knowledge and experience. You would be eaten alive on prac by many nurses if you where placed with them and took that tone and attitude with them.

Sneakypuss, you should find that as long as you advise your uni and I think sign a form to say you are aware of the risks of not having immunisations you should be fine with the uni side of things. I know people in my course who have objected to having annual flu vax and it hasn't been a problem.

Upcoming RN, Being a 17yr old no it all is not a good attitude to have if you plan on being a nurse after high school. There is no need to be a cow now. The attitude you have aint going to get you anywhere in life. Its attitudes like yours that get others hurt or killed in health care. DON'T GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE IF YOUR NOT QUALIFIED TO DO SO.

Upcoming RN; no-one likes a know it all. (meaning, someone who THINKS they know everything, not some one who actually DOES know everything). You are coming across very arrogant in this thread. Maybe you should go into microbiology instead of nursing.