To hunt down these bastards who exposed my son to chicken pox

He's still a kid, chicken pox won't kill him. I had it at 3 and still have scars from scratching. Get him some calamine lotion and get over it.

Going away so close to the start of term is always going to come with risks.

I would be annoyed that my child was going to potentially have to have the start of term off but it’s one of the issues when moving with kids.
I know a few have D&V at the moment.

It sounds like the child wasn’t contagious when your son was in contact with him and so he should be fine.
Or that they didn’t realise he had them until he was already not contagious, which you can’t blame them for.

Fingers crossed your son doesn’t get them right now but I would try and expose him to them soon, as the older he gets the riskier it will be for him.

YANBU. There will be others in a similar situation to you or immuno compromised. They were completely selfish and thoughtless.

Best wishes and good luck for the school start. It sounds like he has a good form tutor who will ease the situation.

I think not mentioning his issues with the vaccine in the first post has just brought on a barrage of posts saying you should have vaccinated him!

FWIW I am absolutely NOT an anti-vaxxer, but I wouldn't pay for the chickenpox vaccine, maybe unless my kids hadn't had it by high school age. It would be extremely silly and dangerous to not vaccinate against polio, measles, etc. but chickenpox isn't life-threatening and to be honest, I'm glad I caught it as a child and got it out the way.

@StolenChanel I didn't know there was a chicken pox vaccine either...I just assumed getting chicken pox was a part of growing up and it's better to get it in childhood than adulthood...saw a previous post about pox parties. Never been to one myself but heard it is a thing for parents to just get it over with. I had it when I was 8 I think (photographic evidence somewhere at my mum's house) - calamine lotion to the rescue! Heard there are other creams and foam treatments to use these days though.

OP, yes, it does suck but, as others have said, better he has it now than later on in his education when he'll have exams. He'll make friends and catch up in school I'm sure.

Oh I'd be fuming too op. What selfish idiots.

If it helps, in terms of friendships, I found with both my dc, the kids they hung out with in the first week or so didn't end up being their longer term school friends. It generally takes a bit longer to discover who they really gel with.

Some offer it; some don't, which is wrong.

www.nhs.uk/vaccinations/chickenpox-vaccine/

Seriously? Vaccination is a choice and CP is not life threatening and often mild, it can be nasty for a few and uncomfortable but manageable, it is also short lived and only contageous while the spots are open, once scabbed over they are no longer considered contagious. When I was a child we were taken to CP parties to get it over with.
It was inconsiderate of the parents of the child, who should have informed other parents and ensured he was not in close contact with others unless he was scabbed over fully.
To the OP, worst things happen, i feel for your son, he sounds like a lovely sensitive boy who just needs lots of reassurance that once at school all will be well and he will get the extra support he needs and I hope he has a super time at high school ;)

I totally agree, Chickenpox is a minor illness for most children but it can rarely cause a serious pneumonitis (Lung infection) particularly in people who are immunosuppressed.

Your poor son. He must feel so disappointed. But by half term he will have forgotten all about it.

You are nit the only one. I only found out when my elder ds had chickenpox and friends mum (dr in spain) asked why he didn't have the vaccine as part of early years immunisations.
Our GP said that there is no vaccine for chickenpox (there clearly is as you can hmget it privately £££)

You can get it more than once. DC2 has had it 3 times!!!

First time I am not sure about - she had a rash so I took her to the GP who said CP (If I had suspected CP I'd have not taken her to the GP and just treated at home!!). Then she got it again a year later - very mildly. Gave a good dose to her sibling and then as the sibling recovered she got CP "proper" (this was about a month after the mild version)

Neither DC have had it since though and this was 6+ years ago.

DC3 has been in classes with outbreaks and just never had it!

I am surprised by the age of 11 he hasnt had it already. both my grandsons aged 2 and 5 have had it this summer. At least now he has it he wont get it again.

Shit timing but honestly a week won't make much difference as they'll all be too busy figuring out the basics to make life long friendships in week one.

DC3 has never had CP and she is going into Y2. If she doesn't get it this year I will have her vaccinated I think.

Having never had it myself I always take care with outbreaks (but I have natural immunity as I have been tested in all 3 pregnancies and nursed DC1 & DC2 through CP)

The family are selfish yes but I can kind of understand still going on a caravan holiday (provided they made their own way there and kept away from everyone etc)

I know it's a long thread and all, but just take the time to filter the OP's posts before coming on and telling her she should have vaccinated him.

Have you read OP's grand total of 4 replies?

Meant to quote you @MintyNew .

Like the OP did....?

Sorry some people are selfish.

But I think that given that you get almost everything free, you can fork out for vaccines.

Your son was bound to get chicken pox at some point, if I had a child who hadn't caught it before the age of eight, I'd have gone to a pharmacy and paid for them to be vaccinated.

[Edited as since seen your son had one dose, and understandably didn't have second. I'm afraid he was bound to get the pox at some point and sods law is that it'd be the wrong time. Hope he is soon better.]

One thing is true when your kids get chicken pox, it'll never be the right time (usually when boarding a flight!) - always best to get it over and done with - I hope your son settles in quickly.

I got mine vaccinated but I wouldn't say "it hardly costed anything" 😑

You are unreasonable because chicken pox is most contagious in the days BEFORE spots or symptoms emerge.

There no way to know you even have it in the contagious phase and once erupted and scabbed the risk is almost entirely gone.

You don't 'catch' shingles at all. Shingles is caused by reactivation of virus that has been sitting dormant in your nerves since you had chickenpox. Usually when you are run down. But you are right, you can't get shingles if you haven't already had chickenpox. I 'think' (but it's a long time since I did virology at Uni) that you can catch chickenpox from someone with shingles - happy to be corrected on that one though.

Unfortunately you can't change the behaviour of other people as we all found during lockdown when people wouldn't stop socialising (yes you Boris etc)

Quite @Whyhaveibeencutoutofmamsnot
It just baffles me how some people can be so bloody selfish

Oh my goodness, another person who doesn’t bother to read the original post! Who takes any opportunity to berate.