"SallyJ" wrote in message
ups.com...

The advice on tetanus is broadly that if someone has been through the
full UK child immunisation programme (they receive 3 shots as a baby,
another as part of the pre-school booster and another as part of the
school-leaver vaccination) then they do not normally require any
further tetanus vaccination (unless they are travelling to some place
where medical attention will not be available). However the child
vaccination programme only began in the UK in 1961 so some older adults
may not have been fully vaccinated.

I'm way older than that. I've had two tetanus shots (very painful) in my
life, many years ago, both as a routine after accidents. I'd refuse them
now.

I'm a gardener who gets a lot of minor damage to my skin and flesh, what's
more I have chickens in the garden, they range freely and 'fertilise' the
soil.

I also have no lymph nodes under one arm so in theory am at danger from the
slightest bite, scratch, sting, burn or other damage and if I sustain such
damage should have an antibiotic shot as a matter of urgency.

That's the latest thinking. I expect it will change.

As will the flu vaccination programme, for whatever reason. A flu jab has
never been applied to me despite my eligibility.

That doesn't mean that I refuse medical intervention for all conditions by
the way, I've had breast cancer and brain tumour surgery. It's just that
some 'preventive' interventions seem to me to be irrelevant and I'm prepared
to take whatever risk there is and meanwhile enjoy a full and active life
without worrying.

I somehow have managed to survive without spending my life at the other end
of a needle.

Mary