To choose to vaccinate 1yr old against chicken pox?

[welliwasntexpectingthat]

I have 2 older children who have had it and i feel like it will hang over us, ready to pounce just before a holiday or another inconvenient time. I can't see there is any real detrimental effect of doing it on him....or am i missing something important?

I did because I didn't get chicken pox till I was 19 and was very poorly with it.

I did it.

<a class="break-all" href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120907151231/www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@ab/documents/digitalasset/dh_109874.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120907151231/www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@ab/documents/digitalasset/dh_109874.pdf This is interesting to read.

Thank you for this thread op!

My eldest (age 10) has never had it. Despite having shared baths with his younger siblings when they were incubating it, and sharing a room throughout the illness.

He has slept over at friend's houses who came out in the pox the following day, and still no sign.

Weirdly he is the type of child that usually catches everything going!

Am seriously considering giving him the vac.

I'm confused...How does not giving kids the CP vac stop adults from getting shingles?

My GP says there's no connection between the two illnesses and that's just a myth.

My mother on the other hand is always convinced that people with CP will give her shingles. It's never happened 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'd do it.

As PP have pointed out, there's no good evidence for the supposed shingles pandemia and chickenpox, while nasty but not life-threatening in the overwhelming majority of all cases, may leave some nasty scars, literally.

I had them aged 5 and still have two large, visible scars on my face. It's not exactly disfiguring and no big deal in the grand scheme of things, but if presented with a choice I'd definitely opt out of having them for the price of a vaccine.

I keep talking myself in circles with this. I've spoken to my GP and nurses. I suspect we will give our son the vaccine but solely because in 6 weeks time we will be moving into a caravan on my parents land and my mum is on a trial drugs test (nothing else has worked) to deal with various issues which has left her with a compromised immune system, and the two things she has been warned about are chicken pox and shingles.
If we weren't making th8s move I suspect I would just leave it for now.

I almost did it after a very positive chat with the GP about it but dc got it before I managed to get round to it.

Interestingly she said it wasn't offered in the UK as it would need to be offered as part of the MMR vaccine. As there is already a low take up of this the fear would be adding another vaccine on could confuse the issue even further.

My daughter had her second jab just this week. She’s just turned 2 and I’ve been looking into it for about a year but nowhere did it in my town. Then Boots recently started offering it so I booked her in. A friend’s son has recently had to have an operation due to an issue that Drs think was caused by chicken pox. I wanted to avoid that kind of thing. The pharmacist that administered it said that as it was a live vaccine it was a bit like getting chicken pox so should provide lifelong immunity. She did say there was a small chance of passing the virus on to other people for up to 6 weeks after each dose.

Yep, my DS has just had his second jab - 18 months. Both my sister and I had horrid chicken pox and when I spoke to my mum, she said if she could
Have vaccinated us, she would have done so in a second.

My sister lives in another country and her son had it as part of their standard vaccination programme.

I would. My DD had mild chicken pox but then got shingles at 3. DS has horrendous chicken pox which became infected, he had high temp, vomiting etc - really poorly. If the vaccine had been more widely available I would have gone for it.

Had, not has - it was quite a few years ago

My daughter had chicken pox, her spots became infected, doctor refused to see her as it was "normal" and contagious! After 4 phone calls, I demanded an appointment and turn up at doctors only for my daughter to have pneumonia and sepsis from the chickpox spots! We were blue lighted and she was hospitalised for days! My youngest, only 2 weeks old, will be having the vaccine.

If it makes any difference I had Chicken Pox when I was 35 and it was the most horrendous thing. I had spots under my eyelids, I had them in my nose, mouth and ears, I had them in my bum, my vagina, every single orifice was affected.
My two kids got CP and I knew I hadn't had it and it just floored me for months. It was the WORST PAIN I have ever had.
Vaccinate for CP if you can

My nurse said the MMRV has more fever issues than MMR, which is why the NHS isn't keen to switch. This article seems to say something similar:
www.rn.com/nursing-news/mmrv-mmr-new-vaccine-combinations/. How robust the evidence is though I've no idea.

I was most worried about getting the measles vaccine quickly because two family members died of measles in pre-vaccine years as toddlers and I was expecting the measles spots, snot and fever from the vaccine, which we got. Far safer to get the mild version from a vaccine than from full-on measles in my opinion. From the chickenpox jab we got literally just 3 spots and a light sniffle, he scratched at the only one he could on his nose, then it was all gone in 2 days. Babies who get sick from a vaccine logically seem likely to be the same babies who would get far more sick from the virus itself, if only there was a way to prove that it could have a very big impact on vaccination rates.

That sounds horrific hyrana. My friend had them as a 15 year old and he really suffered but I dont think even he was that bad!

I'd def say for an older child who doesnt seem to have had CP that its worth at least investigating their immunity.

My nurse said the MMRV has more fever issues than MMR, which is why the NHS isn't keen to switch.

The CDC recommendation is to give MMR separately from V under 48 months due to the fever issue. After 48 months the recommendation is for the MMRV vaccine to be give for both doses.

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5903a1.htm

I read that there is a concern it will lead to more cases of shingles in adults if they don’t have chicken pox as children.

If you’re happy with that risk (which could happen even after a mild dose of chicken pox anyway!) then no reason not to, IMO.

We vaccinated our daughter. Not regretted it at all.

I read that there is a concern it will lead to more cases of shingles in adults if they don’t have chicken pox as children.

The data in the US, where chickenpox vaccination is standard, is that it actually lowers the risk of shingles later in life.

www.livescience.com/45804-chickenpox-vaccine-cause-shingles.html

There is also a safe and effective shingles vaccine which the CDC recommends for adults over 60.

www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/shingles.html

The "shingles in adults" I believe is because those who have chickenpox as a child but aren't subsequently given secondary exposure can be more at risk of getting shingles. So the risk isn't for the children who are vaccinated with the double dose, it's for adults who haven't been vaccinated. Likewise there's a higher risk of adult chickenpox if the adult never caught it as a child because it becomes rarer and weren't vaccinated (but really, IMO if they don't catch it them they should just get vaccinated).