My first son had all his vaccinations but at the age of two he had a febrile convulsion where he stopped breathing. He also developed asthma. Asthma has been linked to the MMR jab although there really does not seem to be enough evidence to support a connection.

Despite this I wanted my second son to have all his vaccinations. The doctors flatly refused because of his brother's history of a convulsion.

My second son was unable to have all of the vaccinations he should have had. At the age of two he suffered several febrile convulsions and was in and out of hospital and was given brain scans for epilepsy. I often wondered if there would have been an adverse effect if he had had all vaccinations.

I'll never know the answer to that and of course the decision was not mine anyway - nobody would do it! Not all parents get a choice! I think my doctors probably did make the right decision in hindsight.

I have the flu jab and will definitely have the pneumonia jab when I qualify! A friend of mine (only in his thirties) was
in intensive care for weeks with pneumonia earlier this year and everybody was worried to death about him. He had to be paralysed and put on a ventilator - it didn't half focus my mind!