Chicken pox vaccine

[Givemecoffeeplease]

A mate is getting her 1 year old child inoculated against chicken pox. Seems a no brainer to ensure they don't get two weeks of nasty itching and the inevitable hassles that come with time off work for parents. But is there any benefit to chicken pox? I remember my mum being v keen for us to catch it but I would hope that the benefits that come from catching it - ie you become immune - are covered by a vaccine. Any thoughts please? AIBU to take this lazy way out.....?! Many thanks.

Chicken pox scarring on your face really sucks. I have it, and I think it contributed significantly to my body image issues (issues hell, I've got subscriptions).

Shingles also sucks, from what I've heard. The risk of shingles after the chicken pox vaccine is supposed to be lower than the risk after having had chicken pox.

Chicken pox vaccines are standard here in the US. I had DD vaccinated as soon as I could, and I plan to do the same for DS.

This is really interesting. Can anyone tell me how you go about getting it? ie can I ask a gp and they'll just charge me for it, or do I need to go somewhere privately? I'm feeling inclined to get it for nearly 2yo dd.

You will nee to go privately. My eldest daughter had it from a private paediatrician. I asked the nurse at the NHS GPs if they could vaccinate my youngest if I paid for it and they said they were not allowed to offer it. Not sure why.

My ds had the vaccine a couple of weeks ago. We're in belgium so it's not standard (I don't think) but is reimbursable by our insurance company. I didn't even know there was a chicken pox vaccine until ds's paediatrician mentioned it, but figured I'd much rather him have a quick jab than a couple of weeks' discomfort.

To the poster whose baby had one vaccination, I am organizing it for my dc and have been told 1 shot needed before 9 months, 2 with 6ish weeks between older than that

BTW it's not cheap, I think between £100 to £200 depending on where. Also my eldest also caught chickenpox subsequently but it was very, very mild. However I would vaccinate again - I had chicken pox and was quite poorly and would hate my children to have the same.

I have heard of GPs giving the vaccine to women who haven't had chickenpox and are planning on getting pregnant. I don't know how widespread this is but I think it should be strongly encouraged.

rally there are people who can get it on the NHS, mainly healthcare workers, people with damaged immune systems and pregnant women who haven't had it naturally, and the families of the above. There's a full list on the NHS website. Both my DC met the criteria and had one jab followed by a booster a few weeks later. If you do it privately the cost was around £150 per jab (so £300 per child for the full course) when I looked.

Tiggytape's answer is spot on.

We got both DDs vaccinated as soon as they were old enough.

At £120, it's expensive but works out cheaper for us than two weeks off work. No regrets at all.

Leedy - the US introduced a booster (2006 iirc) because they noticed waning immunity and Japan have a high percentage of children who haven't had the vaccine to continue circulating the wild disease and 'boost' immunity in those who have been vaccinated. Similar situation to the UK at the moment really but if the childhood vaccine is introduced we'll end up more like the US.

It is usually around £60 per jab. You should be able to ask your gp about it - ours order it in for individual patients.

Don't forget, if you get it, there is still a chance of your cd catching it very mildly, and although they won't be very ill, they will still be contagious and so you would still need time of work.

We were advised by ds's paed to have his immunity tested when he reaches 18.

The vaccine is around 80-85% effective so do bear that in mind if you're paying for it.

AFAIK, the booster in the US is given at school starting age, not in adulthood - and it wasn't that it was "wearing off", adding the booster just increased the number of people who were actually immune. They recommend getting two shots here as well. Also I too can read Wikipedia.

Leedy, I don't get my info from wiki. I'm not sure what your problem is here. I'm sensing a bit of attitude from you.

We were told 2 weeks ago that only 2% of children get chicken pox (mildly) after the vaccine.

"The vaccine is around 80-85% effective"

You got this information from where? Everything I've read says two doses are in the high 90s percent-wise in terms of effectiveness, though I'm not sure if that includes people who only get a mild dose of chicken pox as well as people who don't get it at all. It's considered a very effective vaccine.

Also no vaccine is 100% effective, so also your point is?

DD (3) got hers done earlier this year at our GP surgery. It was only £35 per jab! Seemed like an absolute no brainer. It was thanks to MN that I even heard you could have it done.

Correct that you do need two jabs, a month or so apart if memory serves.

You are sensing "attitude" from me because I have encountered you on other discussions about potentially contentious topics (you seem to be both anti-abortion and anti-vaccination) and found it absolutely impossible to continue any sort of reasonable conversation - derailing, throwing in random not actually factual facts, straw man arguments, refusal to answer questions when it didn't suit you, etc.

Sorry, other people. I'll bow out now before I get cross.

My eldest had chicken pox naturally, my youngest has had one vaccination.
However, he has been around chickenpox many times since so I hope the vaccine immunity is being boosted by chicken pox exposure.
Time will tell!

It came from the CDC but I made a mistake - the figure I gave was for single dose.

My point was that if you're paying for something so you don't have to take time off work and your child still gets CP -even mildly- then you'll still have to take time off. Worth bearing in mind if you're putting yourself out of pocket for it.

Yes, leedy, if you're going to misrepresent me as 'anti-vaccine' then probably best if you do bow out.

Please read my first post where I say I think it makes more sense for older teenagers. How that makes me 'anti-vaccine' I have no idea.

I'm just going on a previous discussion I had with you where you came out with some very anti-vax type statements re effectiveness of vaccines, dangers of vaccines, necessity of vaccines, etc. Apologies if that doesn't fully reflect your opinions on the subject.

Bumbleymummy, I'm afraid I have no idea of your stance on issues other than this one, but can I ask how you feel about the MMR in its current form/schedule? And do you feel that the CP vaccine should be introduced to that schedule?

Thank you for the apology leedy.

Tethers - I do think the single measles vaccine should still be available. I think it would increase uptake - better than the 'nothing' that some people are opting for because they don't want the Mmr for whatever reason. I don't think the CP vaccine should be added. As I said above, I think it makes more sense for teenagers and also, I think people would be a bit wary of something else being added to the MMR after all the controversy.

Also re the point of it not being 100% effective - yes, I knew that when getting the vaccine (and indeed all the other vaccines). Obviously I'll be cross if one of the kids ends up being in the 2% who gets chicken pox anyway, but a 2% likelihood is way better than the considerably likelihood of them catching it otherwise if there's a local outbreak, and I'm not going to go marching back to the doctor going BUT I PAID FOR THEM NOT TO HAVE CHICKEN POX and demanding a refund.