In thinking you should vaccinate against Chicken Pox if you can afford it?

[shutyourlittleface]

I just don't see the downside.

I currently have two mum mates moaning about their nurseries having confirmed chicken pox cases. They could just have their kids vaccinated to alleviate the worry surely?

I wish they'd add it to NHS vaccine schedule - though I assume there must be good reasons why it's not
Cost. Not only would they have to pay to vaccinate the kids, they’d also have to pay to vaccinate adults against shingles, as they wouldn’t be getting a free booster from being exposed to infectious kids.

I really don’t understand how people can’t afford it. Do you never have an alcoholic drink or a takeaway? Literally NEVER? And NEVER buy any treats or anything beyond the bare essentials? Because if you do, you could put that money aside for a vaccination instead.

Both of mine are vaccinated. A colleagues son got it and sadly passed away. I booked them straight in after we got told the sad news

This thread has just promoted me to look into the vaccine further. I was never sure about it as it wasn’t on the nhs schedule but there have been other things I’ve done (like strep b testing) that isn’t beneficial at a population level but is at an individual level. I get the impression the chicken pox vaccine is the same.

Even if it is mild, it's still a horrible illness, and one that can be avoided.

My son had 6 non itchy spots and no other symptoms. I wouldn't call that a horrible illness.

I know some people can get very sick with it, but I barely had any symptoms as a child and neither did he. I didn't vaccinate him and I'm glad I didn't . It would have been a complete waste of money.

Thanks OP.
I’ve found somewhere locally that does it, but he is poorly just now so wouldn’t be accepted I think. Will book him in soon though.

I really don’t understand how people can’t afford it.

At time we were looking - - I couldn't always afford the prescription charges for my asthma medication it often had to wait.

We certainly weren’t running a car, drinking smoking, holidaying having a take out, new clothes or doing anything remotely luxury related.

I was still looking and figuring out if we could manage to save up, digging into whether it was worth it when they came down with CP.

Since then DD2 has had long and prolonge exposure to CP multiple times to it so the benefit are less obvious.

Prior to having kids we had well paid jobs and large savings - but shit happened and we ended up with young kids and very tight finances.

I really don’t understand how people can’t afford it. Do you never have an alcoholic drink or a takeaway? Literally NEVER? And NEVER buy any treats or anything beyond the bare essentials?

£140’s a lot more than a takeaway or alcoholic drink. It’s quite a lot of money for most people to spend in one go, particularly if you are on or have recently been on mat leave!

They can't have it until they are at least 12 months.

Most children have their MMR at 12 months old. They then have to wait one month before having their CP vaccine so most children are 13 months old when they have it done.

£140\13 = £10.77 to be saved a month. Or £2.45 a week.

I justified the cost by saving money we'd otherwise lose if he missed out on nursery. He has it so that's gone out the window 😂

Of course you fucking should. It's a no fucking brainer. If you don't vaccinate your DC then you are totally fucking stupid!

Thanks for that intelligent, articulate, considered contribution. I'm sure that will convince everyone.

I'm ardently pro-vax, to the extent that in addition to DC's scheduled vaccinations I shelled out in excess of £450 for the Men B vaccine before it became automatically offered on the NHS. This is because it's not worth playing about with the risks of any form of this disease. I carefully considered the advisability of the Chickenpox vaccine, and made an informed decision not to give it. It does not offer lifelong immunity. This means that if no booster is given - and the child would be responsible for updating these independently - it would leave them susceptible to it in adulthood. And generally, the later someone contracts this virus, the nastier it can be. Yes, it can be dangerous but in early childhood it's usually a fairly mild condition. The benefits don't outweigh the risks in this case, IMO.

Benefits -v- risks = informed conclusion/decision; as opposed to hysterical shrieking and unquestioning acceptance. That is, to coin your eloquently expressed phrase, unless you are 'fucking stupid'.

What age is recommended for boosters and how many? Even if he’s an adult I will nag (and pay for!) DS to have it boosted.

Apparently all our vaccines need boosting but it's not something we do as a population

I had never heard of the vaccine until my friend who is a GP recommended I should do it. So I had both my kids vaccinated and it worked out well for us. Appreciate that not everyone will be able to afford it and if money would have been very tight I probably would not have prioritised paying for the vaccine.

@zsazsajuju By the time the vaccine was available for us to consider it (massive shortage in a wide radius of where I live) she was so far out of the high risk age groups we made an educated decision to not vacinnate. I looked at data from loads of different sources, pharmaceutical companies, Oxford uni, there was one graph and data which I found the most useful but can't find it now - it was 18 months ago.

Just because I didn't opt for a vaccine which the NHS didn't feel necessary based on their own research does not make me an anti-vaxxer, my second had it as part of the standard vaccine schedule.

I educated myself in all the facts around - looked at real sources and made sure they were backed up with facts and took a considered decision, based on the situation - this is not anti vax!

I never had it as a child so got myself vaccinated a few years ago. I definitely would say all adults who haven't had it yet should be vaccinated. I think it was £100 for the two doses, but you do need a top up after 10 years.

“What about men b before they did that on the NHS? Did you get that for your children?”

No. No one did, don’t pretend it was common.

I did.

So did my friends and family with their children as soon as it was available privately - it wasn’t common, no, but plenty of people did it.

And yes OP, I agree and ours have had the CP vaccine too xx

I've vaccinated my twins, yes it was expensive, but I thought it was worth it, as chicken pox can be very nasty, and I didn't want to potentially have 4 weeks in quarantine if they got them a couple of weeks of each other!!

Why risk possible serious disease when they can just not have it? And if they do end up needing a booster shot in adulthood, so what? If they can also prevent death and disease for people who are immunocompromised, wouldn't that be a good thing? www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/

Britain seems perennially confused about chickenpox.

Like, on the one hand, the NHS won't vaccinate and most people won't do it privately, and if you ask why, you are given this spiel about how it's better for people to get it when they are kids and we need the virus to circulate to prevent shingles in the elderly.

And yet if a kid has chickenpox, PANIC! Confine yourself to the house! Don't go ANYWHERE, you might spread it. A pregnant woman might catch it, don't you know?

And it just makes no sense. If the UK is Officially Not Vaccinating because as a country we WANT the virus to get everywhere, then why all the instructions to quarantine the kids and confine them to the house? If the shingles thing and the "it's better for them to get it when they are little" thing are true, then why isn't the NHS telling everyone with chickenpox to get out there and spread it as far and fast as possible and hold chickenpox parties for good measure?

Make up your minds, please, Britons!

I think the "shingles/keep chickenpox a chickenpox a childhood disease" excuse is largely a lie, and that the real reason why the British won't vaccinate is because it costs money and they won't pay for it.

And yet if a kid has chickenpox, PANIC! Confine yourself to the house! Don't go ANYWHERE,

Devils advocate; guess the adults in the house are getting a boost from the kids having shingles.

But I agree with the post. It's one or the other.

I bet it'll be on the schedule very soon

*kids having CP, not shingles I meant

I'm going to be vaccinating my son as soon as he's old enough. I don't understand why people don't take chickenpox more seriously in this country.