to pay for my daughter to have the chicken pox vaccine?

[cherrybun01]

hi,

UK based so this isnt part of routine immunizations here (as I'm sure many know). I have seen you can pay to have it done in children, I was really for it but have now had doubts put in my mind.

my partner was a bit on the fence but his 4 year old niece had it this year and was very uncomfortable and unwell so he decided okay let's do it. but my mum, who is not massive on vaccines anyway but whole other story there, has said it is completely unnecessary as it's a mild illness and how do I know a vaccine that is not routine over here is "safe"

she has not dropped it since and has made me paranoid and anxious. I just feel like if I can avoid my baby getting in the state that 4 year old niece did and being fortunate enough to be in a position to avoid that why not?

has anyone here had this vaccine for their children? how was it? would anyone not do it, on the flip side, and if so why?

thanks!

Both my dds I paid for it, recently paid for boosters they are 23 and 18..

We got it done.

Lots of countries like Oz and Germany with better funded Heathcare have it routinely. The reason why the NHS doesn't is to keep a level of immunity against shingles in the adult population amongst those who have had CP (if your kids get it and you previously had CP it acts as a booster) - I think it is dubious to risk my kids' health for my immunity to shingles, but others may disagree.

Will get my DD a top up in her teens pre exams, which should see her through university and motherhood.

I would and did. It is routine in other countries and when we moved to NZ it was required for nursery (DD had already had it anyway). If she needs a booster in adulthood, that seems to me not a big deal, compared to contracting an illness which may not be mild, and even if it is, is extremely unpleasant.

The reason the NHS doesn't give it is because if the chickenpox virus is circulating in the population, it helps protect older people against shingles. Maybe that makes sense on a population level, but there is also a shingles vaccination which could protect them better, and as an individual, my responsibility first and foremost is to look after my child's health.

I had it done for DS1, and he hasn't had chickenpox. It was relatively expensive, including the GP appointment, but seemed worth it.

DS2 had the first injection a day before two children at his nursery went down with chickenpox. It wasn't clear a few days later whether he had a mild reaction to the vaccine or actual chickenpox. Soon became clear that he had chickenpox, though only mildly. I don't know whether the vaccine reduced the severity, but expect not. So, get it done if you like, but do it ASAP!

I did it for my youngest after my oldest had a really bad bout and ended up in hospital. Did you know more kids die in the UK each year of chicken pox complications than Meningitis B? Or at least, that stat was valid five years ago.

The reasons we don’t have it here aren’t 100% clear as the shingles issue gets mentioned but also there was a political issue as they were planning to introduce it just as the Andrew Wakefield thing hit, and they didn’t want to bring in a jab at that point. At least, that’s what I’ve read. There are no concerns about the safety of the vaccine.

My sister nearly died from it.

Chickenpox, not the jab.

Personally, I would get the vaccines for boys, but not for girls. I think it’s more important girls get the virus and their body fights it properly so they get a lifelong immune as this is important for if they get pregnant. Saying that, if by 10 they haven’t had it maybe I would, then advise them To get a booster jab later in life.

My boys both had it on the nhs as I'm immunosuppressed and have no CP immunity so it's quite dangerous for me but I cannot be immunised so they as my most likely cause of exposure have been. It's a very widespread vaccine outside of the U.K. and has been used for a long time in the US so it's safety and efficiency are quite well studied.
My boys are 4 & 12 and were both fine with the vaccine and have not contracted or passed on CP to me despite many periods of exposure at their schools and nurseries.

Ds was vaccinated last year, he was 3. Two injections at a Boots, about 6 weeks apart.

There are some very serious consequences to chicken pox (it amazes me people are so worried about covid when chicken pox can kill or disable children too- but that's another thread).

If he needs a booster, I'll arrange/pay for it when he's older.

Do it. Chickenpox can be a mild illness, but it can also lead to disfigurement (two of my cousins have massive scars all over their faces and chests), and to serious medical issues.
But even if it is “just” really uncomfortable- why would you ket your child go through that unnecessarily?

Both mine have had it. The government were considering rolling it out but they wanted the shingles vaccine rolled out first (which they've been doing for the past 8 or so years). There was also concern as it would be administered at the same time as the MMR and numbers for uptake on that are already dwindling so adding another one to the mix didn't seem like a good idea. These are things I read when I was researching so quite a few years ago now.

Also I remember reading a post on here from a lady whose ds was suddenly unresponsive and everyone urged him to go to the hospital. They found one pox on his foot (I think) and it turned out he was very ill. I think he has lifetime complications from it.

I'll pay for any boosters when they're older if needed.

Just to illustrate, my oldest cousin can’t wear bikinis or anything with cleavage, and wears really thick special makeup. the scars are that bad.

It's routine in the US. Millions of doses given annually.

www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/vaccination.html

It's a very uncomfortable illness. Get her the jab.

I had a mild case of chickenpox at 10. My siblings had chickenpox as adults, and were very ill indeed.
The vaccine is a good investment in your child's health, no matter their gender.

I paid for my daughter to have it. I'm a doctor. I really dislike the reasons we don't have it on the vaccine schedule in the UK.

Daughter was totally fine and frankly it is helpful that every time she get a rash (she's quite atopic) she doesn't get booted out of nursery because they think she has chickenpox.

from reading all your responses I think I am definitley leaning much more towards doing it despite my mums persistent concerns.

and a few more questions to add for my GP as well (particularly about the comment regarding future pregnancies as shes a girl!)

DS was born abroad and they gave it to him as part of his normal round of vaccinations, but we missed the booster so paid for him to have this aged 6 once we were back in the UK.

I have a friend whose daughter was vaccinated in New Zealand but caught chickenpox many years later here in the UK.

My own DS is 15 years old and has never had chickenpox. I wonder if it's too late to vaccinate him now?

We dot DS done as a baby, as I got CP as a 16yo and wow was I ill. Still scarred, too. I figured if I could save him all that and not lose 2w of leave it was a win - he caught everything else that first few weeks in nursery so I couldn't afford for him to catch something preventable.

Couple of years later there was a CP explosion at nursery. Kids were going home 3-4 per day with their pox having appeared since breakfast. DS didn't get it.

My nieces had it, because it is usual in the country their mum comes from and she was appalled it isn't routinely offered over here. They had it done in the holidays visiting her country. I thought part of the reason vaccination is successful is because everyone has it? Rather than it being about the benefits to the individual. So I've never looked into non-routine vaccinations.

Hello. I did it. 2 injections a month apart for 60 quid each.
Was fine, no temperature like some of the other ones and no adverse reactions.
They have to be 12 months old though so you dont have to make the decision yet. You also have to have 4 weeks between these and any other live vaccines so you would have to do it 4 weeks after the 1 year boosters.

Its routine in so many other countries that the side effects are widely known.

Chicken pox is normally mild but in rare cases complications can occur and I think there are occasional deaths from it. So deaths and complications from chicken pox are much higher than deaths and complications from the vaccine.

Saying that both are so rare that wasnt what swayed my decision- I did it because you have to take time off until the blisters have healed if they get it which is probably at least a week off work and I didnt fancy a week at home with a cranky toddler when it could easily be avoided.

got not dot!

@WhatHaveIFound

DS was born abroad and they gave it to him as part of his normal round of vaccinations, but we missed the booster so paid for him to have this aged 6 once we were back in the UK.

I have a friend whose daughter was vaccinated in New Zealand but caught chickenpox many years later here in the UK.

My own DS is 15 years old and has never had chickenpox. I wonder if it's too late to vaccinate him now?

No, not too late. We had my Dd vaccinated last year as a teenager. She had been exposed to it as a toddler/child many times but never caught it. A gp friend advised us to think about getting her vaccinated if she still hadn't had it as a teen/young adult because the severity tends to increase. She was keen to get it done so we did.

Forgot to add we got it done at the chemist not the doctors

We asked our paediatrician about this and she said children who have the chicken pox vaccine are more likely to get shingles in later life, which is a horrible thing to have. I presume that is why we don't have a public programme for chicken pox vaccine.