to consider the chicken pox vaccine?

[ooooooeak]

I kind of feel the pox is hanging over us! DS1 was vaccinated but DS2 is too young still.

What happens if you catch it just before going on hols?? Can you fly? I assume not. What would happen if your child came out in pox when your away?? Would holiday insurace cover your extra stay??

Its one of the most horrible childhood illnesses.

What are the chances of catching it under a year old?

One private GP I spoke to today was happy to vaccinate at 10months but this makes me feel a little uneasy.

Part of me thinks its a very managable if not annyoying childhood illness the other part of me thinks its a pain, can cause terrible illness even death and why not just be vaccinated.

AIBU?

I don't get the link between antiobiotics for colds and flu and a vaccine for CP.

One is NOT effective and the other is.

If you're living in poor and unsanitary conditions, then a vaccine is all the more important and effective because your immune system is weaker and you are then more likely to have complication.

No idea what the overall population fatality rate is, Bubbleymummy but:

• Fatality rates are not the only factor. There are plenty of horrid symptoms and complications.

• approx 1/3 of childhood strokes are thought to be caused by CP.

• if a pregnant mother catches CP in the days preceding birth, the fatality rate for the baby is about 30%.

• even a low fatality rate is several deaths too many if they were preventable by vaccination.

I'm convinced because:

*minimal side effects of vaccine

*significant morbidity associated with CP

*unpleasant nature of the disease

*economic cost of staying home for 2 weeks

*although risk of death from CP is very low, it's still there and the vaccine is even lower risk, so why not? I strap my children into their car seats even if I'm going 2 miles down the road - there are avoidable risks and unavoidable ones.

0.0025% fatality rate sounds low unless it is your child who is one of the 0.0025%.

Or who suffers a stroke because of chicken pox.

Or who is hospitalized due to complications.

Or who loses a child in pregnancy due to contracting cp.

Most pediatricians will tell you that cp is not a minor illness. Mine worked for several years in children's intensive care ward and saw children die and be permanently disabled by the illness. Tell him it is a minor illness, he will laugh in your face.

My info with regard measles came from WHO do you deny you got your info from mercola or whale?
My children had cp when they were 3 and 1. Ds caught it from nursery and gave it to his little sister. She suffered far worse than he did, but that is normally when a sibling catches it.

But had they still not had it by the time DS's friend had his stroke caused by CP, then I would have seriously considered havihng them vaccinated. My DS has a condition called GEFS+ where he still gets febrile convulsions even though he is a teenager. I am very wary of him having anything that gives him a temperature, now that he is independant.

That's fine bruffin. Your child, your choice. I personally won't be giving it as I don't think the vaccine gain outweighs the risk. As I said above, I don't get my info from those sites. I use WHO stats too. I'm Not sure what paediatricians tell you that CP isn't mild because the doctors I know Wouldnt vaccinate their children against it either. Yes, there can be complications - the same as with any childhood illness, many of which haven't got a licensed vaccine for them ... Yet!

Dr. Sears is a well-respected paed (and father of many, and darling hero of the AP community) who strongly endorses the CP vaccine.

You can get mild bouts of polio, measles and even diptheria, too... not that I want to run the risks of any of those myself.

Why does it matter that he is a hero of the AP community? The US hysteria over chickenpox is quite frankly ridiculous - but that's what propaganda can do. I thought people in the UK had a bit more sense...clearly not!

Anyway, I value my own ability to make a decision based on the information I've seen and I'm happy to take the small risk of chicken pox over a new vaccine. If you think this vaccine was brought out to spare the poor children then think again - if there wasn't money to be made they wouldn't be making it!

bubbleymummy

You seem to insinuate that people choosing the CP vaccine don't have sense and are unable to objectively assess a situation based on the evidence. . Where's your evidence for this?

With all due respect, I have postgraduate training in epidemiology and public health. I think that I am more than fully able to assess the risks involved and have done so. Nothing to do with hysteria or propaganda. If anything I think you're influenced by the shocking UK anti-immunisation propaganda which has led to the UK having lower measles immunisation rates than many low income countries.

I don't really care about the provenance of a vaccine or the motivations of those making it. The main questions for me are is it effective and safe, do the vaccine risks outweigh the disease risks and what are the costs involved/additional benefits. Based on these criteria, I am very happy for my children to be vaccinated and will be seeking out a private GP for dd2's booster sometime next year.

Actually petelly, it's not so much choosing to have your child vaxed that suggests people have no sense - as I've said - each to their own. It's the hysteria around chickenpox that I thought the UK were immune to (excuse the pun :) ) From reading this thread it seems that more and more people are worrying about cp despite the very minor risks associated with it and I do wonder if this is because there is a vaccine available. There are any number of possible complications that can occur with any childhood illness but people don't seem to worry about them if there isn't a vaccine for it. I do wonder if it's just playing on a parental guilt thing. If you think there is some way to possibly prevent your child from catching something then you should do it - otherwise you're a bad parent. Maybe not, but it does sadden me to see more and more people starting to doubt their body's own ability to deal with illness. Yes, sometimes it needs a bit of help but at least give it a chance!

I think you have extremely under-estimated how very risk-adverse people in the UK are, Bubbly!

It seems relevant that Sears is a hero of the AP community because the AP community often sees itself as on the fringe of mainstream thinking (bit like rabid anti-vax people), and AP is very much about trusting your instincts and adjusting your parenting decisions according to your family's unique needs and your own judgement. And still being respected even if you end up making unconventional decisions (like getting no jabs, or every jab).

I already said I don't worry about the disease, but the expectation of quarantine when no CP jab is easily available is absurd -- I prefer the jab to quarantine; that's a valid enough reason for me to think private jab is a good idea.