You Don’t Need a Tetanus Vaccine for a Broken Ankle
By Cathy Jameson
It’s unsettling to see your child’s phone number pop up but you don’t hear your kids voice on the line. Your heart sinks a bit when a friend of theirs starts out with a cautious, “Hey…Mrs. Jameson?” You know right away that something is wrong. Tuesday afternoon, one of Ronan’s little sisters suffered an ankle injury from a fall. Fielding phone calls from Ronan’s brother, who was on campus when his sister got hurt, and from my husband, we set a plan into motion. While doing that, we also talked vaccines, because we knew they were going to be one of the first questions asked during triage.
They were.
Knowing a little bit about which ones we thought would be discussed, I shared what I could remember about the tetanus vaccine. If offered, I said that would be a hard no.
Instead, “Ask for the TiG, and clean that wound well!!”
I then searched https://web.archive.org/web/20130730035001/http://www.modernalternativemama.com:80/blog/2013/07/24/the-media-on-tetanus-teaching-or-scaring/comment-page-1/# for one of the original articles I remembered reading years ago. I needed solid info then when one of the kids stepped on a nail that went through their shoe and into their foot. During my search, I re-found this webpage https://www.amoils.com/blogs/health-blog/myths-legends-surrounding-the-tetanus-shot with information I remember reading when articles and blogs about the truth https://web.archive.org/web/20130807165223/http://gianelloni.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/the-truth-about-tetanus were more commonplace and not censored.
P.S. Thank you, waybackmachine!
The current injury we were dealing with reminded me of a time in 2020 when we also needed urgent medical attention and an unnecessary shot was offered. https://www.ageofautism.com/2020/11/you-do-not-need-a-flu-shot-for-a-broken-arm/comments/
Tonight, my daughter fell and busted up her elbow while playing basketball. She immediately cried out in pain. Pain and swelling in her arm increased, so we jetted over to urgent care to have things checked out. Looking over my shoulder as we checked in, I could feel Izzy grip my arm as I answered some questions. The "Does the patient need a flu shot and/or a pneumonia shot?" question on the intake form immediately made her skeptical.
"Mommy,” she whispered to me, “…a flu shot??"
--
This time again, armed with useful information that we knew would be more effective and logical, the TiG, not a Tdap vaccine like one medical person suggested, was requested. The TiG was administered with no pushback, and the wound was ‘irrigated with copious irrigation’. With that part taken care of, we concentrated on what else was needed – immediate surgery. It would be hours before one of us could arrive, but the surgery wouldn’t wait. We are so grateful that it was successful and are now praying for a quick recovery, full healing, and for my kiddo to be back up on both feet soon.
My kids are determined, resilient folk. They are active, adventurous young people who every now and then like to sit down and chill out. To see one of them forced to sit things out is hard – so hard for them, and so hard for me and my husband to witness. With things in a holding pattern until after a follow-up surgery is discussed, schedule and completed, we wait, and we hope.
It’s never an easy thing when you’re miles and miles away from your college-aged kid when they get hurt. But with an amazing amount of strength, that kid is already in the next phase – of healing, of managing changes, of reworking plans to get things back on track while resting and recovering here at home. The road ahead won’t be easy, but with us working together, I’m confident that Ronan’s incredibly athletic and talented sister is going to get back up again and shine brightly like always.
Cathy Jameson is a Contributing Editor for Age of Autism.
Thank you for the really helpful information.
Strangely enough I've never thought of using TiG for people. I used to keep a veterinary formulation in the fridge for my pet goats (the sweetest, cuddliest wild rose and blackberry management possible), with syringes on top of the fridge. The goats liked to hang on the kitchen porch and we tried to look them over at least twice a day. So, instead of vaccinating, we kept the TiG in case one ever got a penetrating wound. I never had occasion to use it.
Posted by: K | March 24, 2025 at 01:03 PM
Cathy, I'm so glad that your daughter is doing well after her ankle injury from a fall. Accidents happen to all of us at one time or another. I broke my arm when I fell off a step stool at the age of four. I went to the hospital and they reset the bone and put a cast on my arm. I remember when they took it off after a few months my arm was chalk white. My parents said I handled it very well and my right arm is stronger now than my left arm. No one suggested a tetanus shot at the hospital, thankfully. Hope your daughter continues to heal well as I did.
Posted by: Gayle | March 24, 2025 at 09:22 AM
God grant her healing, recovery & strength to endure. And bless her parents for protecting her from the remedy that would have done more harm than good.
Posted by: MamaBear | March 23, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Thank you Benedetta.
Just really sick and tired of the knee-jerk doctor response of - and now we’ll get you all set with a (fill in the blank) shot.
Posted by: Jill in MI | March 23, 2025 at 09:35 PM
Jill The vaccine will not even work soon enough after an injury anyway. It takes a good some body check me on this; six weeks?
So it is not even reasonable how they have this protocol set up.
I caught my hand, on a metal hook on a chin chain of a horse that was being shod and it reared up its darn head. It almost peeled the skin from my hand. I had 8 or 10 stitches and the were really pushing the tetanus shot. I refused, and they gave me what they needed to give me anyway and that is a big shot of antibiotic.
Same for my son that smashed his finger on a tractor lift. I did not even know my son and hubby was gone right outside the house till my husband called. You talk about burning rubber to get there before they gave him a tetanus shot. Sure I was scared it took his finger off, but I was more scared of the tetanus shot that had the pertussis in it that each time came with horrible gifts.
Posted by: Benedetta | March 23, 2025 at 02:25 PM
Good morning to all! Glad your child is okay. Life happens and sometimes accidents happen too . But we need to remember our own medical doctors when we were children that's what I do in my opinion they were the real doctors you got injured they would Stitch you up if necessary they would give an antibiotic but vaccines were rarely mentioned when I was a kid at the doctor's office for a an owie. However these days it is so different I'm glad you and your family had the knowledge to know what care your child needed. About maybe 8 or 9 years ago during the last measles Hysteria. We were questioned by a relative on why are two children were not up to date on their measles vaccine I politely said to the relative if you can find me a measles vaccine I may consider it. Of course the relative could not because the measles vaccine is no longer made by itself it is part of the MMR and we know how dangerous the MMR can be to some children so I politely said we no longer do that. Plus my son Samuel has titers off the charts for measles and rubella according to the lab report that was taken when he was 6 Years old he has immunity to measles and rubella. And he was only given one round of the MMR when he was 1 year old so I believe his one and only MMR caused his brain damage and he still has the vaccine strains of the measles and rubella in his system. Of course people look at us funny, when we tell them the story so I think many of our readers know the feeling. Keep up the great work and blessings to all. Appreciate what you do for the autism community.
Blessings.
Posted by: Gerardo Martinez | March 23, 2025 at 12:27 PM
I have a question. How common is it for the tetanus bacteria to be present?
Some years ago my 80 year old dad was at home and he stumbled and hit his head on the upper inner part of a doorway. The doorway was made out of wood. The house was clean they had no animals in the house ever. So we took him in for stitches and they were insisting upon giving him a tetanus shot. I said the wound was bleeding out, therefore no oxygen was getting in, so nothing that would “feed” the bacteria. He was actually still kind of bleeding. I argued that he did not need the shot. I was pretty much asked to leave the room. My younger sister, who was the voice of reason, got the doctors to agree that if we saw any negative results, we would bring him back in for the tetanus shot. So we got out of there without a shot.
I really thought you had to be near animals that would be the source of the tetanus bacteria. Like horses, cows.
So my question is how common is this bacteria?
P.S. My Dad was totally fine afterward.
Posted by: Jill in MI | March 23, 2025 at 11:55 AM
The tetanus shot all by itself will not keep you from getting tetanus.
By the time the vaccine can cause the body to mount a defense, Well let us just say you need an antibiotic at the time of injury, mush more than a vaccine. .
Posted by: Benedetta | March 23, 2025 at 10:37 AM
The most dangerous lie out there when it comes to vaccines is it is just a tetanus shot.
Tetanus is not a just.
Tetanus is the all three vaccines in one every time. It includes the whooping cough vaccine, every time.
Pertussis vaccine caused our family a great deal. It cost us grand children, mental health, physical health, a death of child in the womb. We got to eat a lot of humble pie too, from the long length of time it took to catch on just how dangerous the pertussis vaccine was.
Posted by: Benedetta f Stilwell | March 23, 2025 at 10:34 AM