micropreemies and vaccinations

Specialties NICU

Published

Hello all,

I am not a nicu nurse, I work with the elderly mainly on med surg. I have so much respect for what you nicu nurse do on a daily basis. i am posting here because I would like to know your opinions on this matter. Some background, my niece was born at 25 weeks, weighed under two pounds at birth. Had 2 bouts of NEC, was resolved with antibiotics never needed surgery.

My niece at two months of life was given three vaccines one day apart, dtap, hib and ipv last week on mon, tues and wednesday. on the overnight shift Saturday sometime after 1 am she went in distress, 02 desats, bradycardia and low bp's, she had previously been stable, on what looked like nasal canula, i'm not sure what you would call it but she definetely wasn't on cpap or vent. She needed to be intubated and they were never able to stabilize her, she passed saturday late afternoon.

I had no idea that vaccines would even be offered so early as she wasn't even at her due date. Is this common practice? The doctors deny this could be related to vaccines as it was several days after the fact. the autopsy isn't complete but didn't show anything wrong with her gross anatomy. Your opinions, could this be vaccine related? And on a personal level, would you consent to these vaccines if it were your own child, a 25 weeker at day 60 of life?

Please tell me I'm wrong

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
Hello all,

I am not a nicu nurse, I work with the elderly mainly on med surg. I have so much respect for what you nicu nurse do on a daily basis. i am posting here because I would like to know your opinions on this matter. Some background, my niece was born at 25 weeks, weighed under two pounds at birth. Had 2 bouts of NEC, was resolved with antibiotics never needed surgery.

My niece at two months of life was given three vaccines one day apart, dtap, hib and ipv last week on mon, tues and wednesday. on the overnight shift Saturday sometime after 1 am she went in distress, 02 desats, bradycardia and low bp's, she had previously been stable, on what looked like nasal canula, i'm not sure what you would call it but she definetely wasn't on cpap or vent. She needed to be intubated and they were never able to stabilize her, she passed saturday late afternoon.

I had no idea that vaccines would even be offered so early as she wasn't even at her due date. Is this common practice? The doctors deny this could be related to vaccines as it was several days after the fact. the autopsy isn't complete but didn't show anything wrong with her gross anatomy. Your opinions, could this be vaccine related? And on a personal level, would you consent to these vaccines if it were your own child, a 25 weeker at day 60 of life?

Please tell me I'm wrong

My heart breaks with yours. As a NICU nurse and mom of 2 former preemies, I know that there is nothing more agonizing than the deterioration of a baby believed to be stable.

We are unable to provide answers to medical questions, but I can tell you that the vaccine schedule you describe is fairly standard, and in my experience, not linked to complications. Please accept my prayers that your family finds understanding and comfort.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

How heartbreaking! My sympathies.

But as you know it is against the AllNurses TOS to offer medical advice.

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I wish we could give more advice but it's against TOS. I can tell you that the vaccines were administered per standard protocol. My own 28-weeker was given the vaccines at 60 days of age, so yes, it is something I would've consented to.

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Thank you all for your responses. I don't post much on allnurses. Of course I should have realized you can't give advice. It is just hard to understand when there is no explanation as to what happened other than that she was extremely premature. She survived for 60 days and was doing well. Thank you to all you NICU nurses. My sister was so grateful for the loving care her daughter received. Many showed up to service as well and it was clear they were very affected and shocked as well. I couldn't do what you all do.

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Specializes in NICU.

While we can't give medical advice, I will tell you that it's standard of care to give preemies (even micropreemies) vaccines at 2 months of life. Here's a link to Red Book on the matter: http://redbook.solutions.aap.org/chapter.aspx?sectionid=88187007&bookid=1484

If I had a premature infant, I would absolutely give them their vaccines on schedule. Particularly the DTaP as I've seen babies come in multiple times in the past few years with Pertussis, needing to be intubated and unable to PO feed.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your niece. Unfortunately the odds were stacked against her being born at such an early age. Best wishes to your family in this difficult time.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

I am so sorry for your loss. This is tremendously heart-breaking.

You have been given some great information. Thank you, babyNP.

We will close this thread ... please accept our sincere condolences.

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