to ask - chicken pox

[dubbada]

if you could vacinate would you?

Bumbley - I know most cases are uncomplicated - all of my three had no issues at all - and dd2 was only 5 months when she caught it so would have been too young for a vaccine anyway. On the other hand dh worked in a team where a young man caught and died from CP so however many 'normal' cases I know of, I will always be aware of the other possibilities. That's how i should be actually. CP is a potentially serious illness. It's really not a good idea for people to dismiss it as benign. A number of countries vaccinate - it's a good question to ask - why don't we?

You can get shingles as an adult after having had the chicken pox vaccine.

www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1032.aspx?SubCategoryID=63&CategoryID=62

Obviously nhs based info and I'm not sure what sources they use.

But googling has also thrown up other healthcare sites, including us based, that say that it is possible to get shingles evenif you've been vaccinated against chicken pox.

Nhs advice is to immunise those at greater risk of complications. Of course, nothing is guaranteed and complications do exist. Just as they do to the flu, gastric bugs, common cold.

Is a tricky one. Personally we've given the dcs all vaccinations currently covered by the immunisation programme. Wanted to get ds1 the pneumococcal vaccination privately but fortunately that was included in the programme of jabs by the time he was due mmr.

The cost is around £60 per jab, and 2 jabs are recommended.

I know that serious complications are rare, but it can also just be so much worse for some children, and you can't predict who that is going to be.

I think it also makes you more wary, if you have personal experience of someone suffering complications.

re how long the immunity lasts, the problem is that they dont really know, because it hasnt been around long enough for them to say that it provides lifelong immunity.

I had DS vaccinated as is standard in the country where I live. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, he's not going to get CP in childhood which is good. However, the risk is that the vaccine doesnt last for life, and as an adult he doesnt get organised to get a booster and then gets it as an adult when it would be worse.

That said, living where we are, where there is herd immunity, there is a high chance that even unvaccinated he wouldnt get it as a child and would then get it as an adult.

ps- sorry, meant to add, one trial has proven 25 years immunity (i.e. the vast majority of the people that had it 25 yrs ago are still immune). I think that's the longest trial they've done

if I'd known the jab was available when son was toddler (before he contracted CP) I'd have a) researched the jab - what it is, what's used, how it works, side effects, risks if don't have jab etc and then b) probably have had the vaccination.

I'm pro vaccinations. I've taken this approach to every single vaccination, looking at emperical research, scientific peer reviewed studies, and also the recommendation of professionals I trust. Have had everything including some that were optional at the time (like TB).

You most definitely can have shingles if you have received the vaccine. Indeed, it may be associated with a rise in the number of shingles cases: many articles on this .

I've been considering getting the CP vaccine for my DC. We could just about afford it but it would be a real stretch and we'd have to do without quite a lot to scrape together the money. However, I'm wavering because I've also read that adults who had CP as a child (like me and DH) get their protection from future shingles by their immune systems regularly coming into contact with children with CP. This is probably the gov't reasoning behind not offering it as much as anything, if most children get vaccinated there would be a massive outbreak of adult shingles! And we couldn't afford to get DC vaccinated against CP and DH & I vaccinated against shingles.