Would you vaccinate against chickenpox?

[DieAntword]

The aeroplane thread made me think about this and I was reading about it. So they don’t think that people immune via vaccination will get shingles (or significantly more rarely than full chicken pox cases). Is this a no brainer then? Kids won’t get sick and they won’t get shingles later either? The only reason it’s not on the nhs is to stop adults who had full chickenpox as children getting shingles due to exposure? Is it ethical to use kids as a viral vector that way 🤔?

Apart from it costing money is there any reason not to do it?

I would do it if it was free as part of the standard vaccination schedule on the NHS.

I have always said that I'd find the money and pay for it anyway if my DC hadn't had it naturally before they were getting towards the end of primary age, because it's so unpleasant in a teenager or adult. DC1 and DC2 had it (pretty mild cases) aged 5 and 2 but DC3 is 7 and not had it yet; if she doesn't catch it inside the next couple of years I'll look into getting the vaccination privately.

Shingles seems to run in my family (apparently a predisposition is a thing?): grandad had it, mum had double shingles (two zones affected), sister had it, I had it. I don’t want to increase my child’s risk of shingles by having the CP vaccine, but that’s not how it works - it’s how having the CP vaccine would impact others?

Your child has to have chickenpox to be able to get shingles later in life.

So the best thing you can do to protect them from shingles is get them vaccinated against chickenpox which will help prevent them getting shingles later in life.

Our eldest didn't have it (he was scheduled to, because we were in another country, but caught it before he had the vaccine - luckily he had a pretty mild case) - but we gave our second the MMRV when the time came around - we paid for it to be done privately, and he's not great with jabs, so we just got his jabs combined into as few visits as possible!

My son was vaccinated as part of an NHS trial. (They were comparing existing version with a new version). I leaped at the chance. I remember being very ill when I had it as a child.

I had my youngest vaccinated at 12 as she's never had it and I didn't want it to be a concern in any future pregnancies. My eldest has facial scars from when she caught it at 3 and my middle child was extremely ill/ floppy and needed medication when he developed it 2 weeks later aged 1.

@Paradyning

No newborns in my house.

A friend's child nearly died from chicken pox. He survived but needed plastic surgery on his face. I know complications like tgat are rare but we got DD2 vacinated very soon afterwards because of what happened to our friends.
It was done at our usual gp surgery. 2 injections at £60 each. Well worth it IMO.

Whoops sorry star that was meant for twodrifters

We lived in the US and followed the vaccine schedule for there.
My daughter was vaccinated, and then in yr2 most of her class cane down with it.
She got a blister on her nose and on her back. Both tiny and she wasn’t poorly at all.
I wonder if she is now more prone to anything else?

My FIL had immune problems and the ILs kept DH magically away from chicken pox all through childhood.

When I had my DTs and was in hospital, DH took DS to toddlers, where he caught CP. ILs fucked off, so no help there. DH got CP badly and both the babies. So I was left single-handedly looking after a recovering toddler and two ill babies. DH had to sort himself.

I have had the pox, and shingles and one DT got CP again at 3.

I wish they would sort out a proper vaccination programme and stop it circulating.

I had the chickenpox vaccine and still got chickenpox.

I was covered in chickenpox and felt poorly. I think I was home from school for a week. I had a fever and spent most of the day lounging around naked because I couldn't bear anything to touch my skin. (soooo itchy!)

I'm from the US so all kids are vaccinated and almost all the kids I knew had chickenpox despite the vaccine.

When I was getting DD's MenB jab privately, I asked about chicken pox and was advised not to bother as it would wear out within 15-20 years which could make her potentially susceptible at around the time when she might want to start a family (lots of ifs and buts!) which would be dangerous. Is this a valid concern? Getting the vax seems to make a lot of sense otherwise.

I'm from the US so all kids are vaccinated and almost all the kids I knew had chickenpox despite the vaccine.

How long ago was this?

Chickenpox is reportable and the school (as required by law) informs all parents when there is a case of it at school.

This has happened 3 times in the last 11 years in my district.

It's very unlikely to get chickenpox from a person who is vaccinated. There have been 5 cases in the US out of 55 million vaccinations. It's much more likely to that somebody who has not been vaccinated would get the disease and develop a brain fever.

789 you get a booster jab when they are in their teens if you are worried about it 'running out'

Re: SpottingTheZebras "it is very very rare to hear of an adult catching a illness they have been vaccinated against as a child"
I have to correct you: it is now common for adults to catch illnesses they've been vaccinated against as a child. This may be partly because the viruses mutate over time. I myself have had measles and whooping cough as an adult despite being vaccinated as a child. I was told by my doctor that both diseases are now common in adults who were vaccinated as children. It is well known that most vaccinations only give protection for several years and that viruses can mutate over time to 'escape' the vaccine protection effect.

itsonly
I was wondering when that was too?

I did, well I got the first dose done as I couldn't afford two doses (the nurse told me that one dose would likely be enough protection) and now they've just introduced it to the vaccine routine over here (Finland) so my daughter will get the second dose when she's 12 (I guess to boost protection during the teenage years)

I have to correct you: it is now common for adults to catch illnesses they've been vaccinated against as a child.

Can you link to statistics, please?

In our school system, as soon as a child is diagnosed with chickenpox, unvaccinated children are excluded from school for 21 days.

It's amazing how keen non-vaxxers suddenly become to get their kids vaccinated at that point.

I vaccinated both my DS's and will vaccinate DC3 when he/she is one year old (currently 37 pg).
My uncle is a paediatrician in the states and can't understand why it is not the norm in the uk.

Yes I did it after reading various Mumsnet threads about chicken pox.

I didn’t want my children to suffer unnecessarily; it would have been difficult and expensive to take the time off work if they’d got it; I was concerned about scaring; I’d been very ill and my immune system sucked!

I asked a GP at my practice before I booked it privately and she was quite condescending. Said CP was not a serious illness and it did children good to get it. Wanted to know what would happen to kids if we could vaccinate against the common cold, hay fever etc. I thanked her and got on the phone to a local hospital who gives the CP in their private travel clinic.

The kids nursery thought I was mad too, as did lots of very intelligent friends.

I don’t regret it. It was money well spent.

@Dushenka please can you link some stats regarding this? I currently sat with a virologist who is also very interested to hear this as it goes against her understanding.

No we didn’t, I trust my health and childcare professionals and they haven’t recommended it

I was just about to get it done as my eldest had got to 6 without it and the youngest was 1. They then got it. The scars on the youngest's body are really big and obvious 4 years on.