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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think it should be free and part of the childhood vaccines?

290 replies

CottonCandy01 · 22/02/2021 10:24

Hello,

My friend's son is getting his chickenpox vaccine next week, I believe it is costing around 140-150 pounds for the two doses. It got me thinking about my own young child (currently 6 months) and if this is a path I should take - on balance, i think I will get it for her.

The problem I have with this, is after researching why we don't have it as part of the childhood vaccines here this is what it returned:

*So why doesn’t the UK use the chickenpox vaccine for children if it is safe and effective at preventing severe disease? All vaccines in the UK are assessed for their cost-effectiveness to ensure that the health budget spent on services which provide the greatest health benefit for the population as a whole.

In the last review of the chickenpox vaccine by the committee which advises the government on vaccines (the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, JCVI), the future modelling of the impact of vaccination indicated that there could be an increase in the rate of shingles in adults over time, which would make the vaccine programme not cost-effective.

This is because, if chickenpox in children disappears as a result of a vaccine programme, adults would no longer have their immunity boosted by exposure to their chickenpox-suffering children and grandchildren and would be more likely to get shingles. Put simply, the conclusion of the previous review was that it would not be cost-effective for the NHS to immunise children against chickenpox*

So if I'm reading that correctly, it is basically because we can't afford it? I'm not naive or an idiot, I know the NHS is hideously underfunded but I just think it is so wrong. I'm in a privileged position that I can afford to vaccinate my child, as can my friend, but for those who can't I think it is really crappy. Chickenpox is not always a mild disease, it doesn't look like something that should even be in circulation in 2021, I remember my younger siblings, crying in pain all night and hitting temps over 40, one of them had to go to hospital.

Not sure what my AIBU is here but I just can't believe it isn't part of the vaccination schedule over here when it is in so many other countries. Seems so wrong.

OP posts:

Crackerofdoom · 22/02/2021 16:29

@Theluggage15

I hadn’t realised there was a chickenpox vaccine and my children caught it when they were 17 and 15. It was the worst illness they had and they were both off school for a couple of weeks. Thank goodness it wasn’t exam time for either of them. If I had known about the vaccine I would have paid for them to have it as soon as they started senior school.

I think there is an argument that people should be vaccinated if they haven't caught the virus by a certain age.

ancientgran · 22/02/2021 16:31

@notalwaysalondoner

It’s like I was astonished when they withdrew the TB vaccine despite cases rising and being a particular risk if you travel a lot to developing countries. It was entirely about cost effectiveness from what I can gather. The chicken pox case is more nuanced due to the link with shingles.

I was shocked about the TB vaccine. Also that for some years only girls could have the HPV, thankfully that has now changed.

Coyoacan · 22/02/2021 16:31

How many vaccines can we stick into our children? The current vaccine schedule means that they get about fifty jabs before they are five. Now there is talk of adding a covid vaccine and now a chicken-pox vaccine.

Surely at some point their systems will overload with the adjuvants

Pukkatea · 22/02/2021 16:32

Well, if it is because we can't afford it, then what other medical care would you want to sacrifice in order to do it? Or by what means would you want to fund it?

ancientgran · 22/02/2021 16:36

[quote CottonCandy01]@dementedpixie The shingles argument is being revisited anyway. They think the immunity booster argument has been overestimated.[/quote]
I'd be sceptical about it. As I said earlier I've got 4 adult children, all had chickenpox but I've had shingles so many times I can't even tell you how many times as I've lost count. The immunity boost didn't do much for me.

From my own non scientific experience I get shingles if I'm rundown, tired, stressed. I do my best to make sure I get enough rest but I can't help being rundown sometimes e.g. after flu, and stress well that is a bit hit and miss to control and I am a worrier so I think I'm often stressed for reasons some people wouldn't worry about.

ancientgran · 22/02/2021 16:38

@Coyoacan

Surely at some point their systems will overload with the adjuvants

It is alot isn't it. I think when I was born you got whooping cough and diptheria jabs. Everything else was left to chance, including polio which was a real killer.

MissConductUS · 22/02/2021 16:49

Surely at some point their systems will overload with the adjuvants

Adjuvants aren't stored in the body, they are metabolized and eliminated.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12184363/

VinylDetective · 22/02/2021 16:53

Everything else was left to chance, including polio which was a real killer.

You must be a very ancient gran! I got my polio jab when I was three.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 22/02/2021 16:54

@Coyoacan

Surely at some point their systems will overload with the adjuvants

No. Because that's not what an adjuvant does.

www.immunology.org/public-information/bitesized-immunology/vaccines-and-therapeutics/adjuvants-introduction

Original poster

CottonCandy01 · 22/02/2021 16:55

@Coyoacan There is no evidence to suggest that that could be the case.

@ancientgran I'm glad it isn't left to chance anymore! eeeek

OP posts:

Viviennemary · 22/02/2021 16:55

If you want your child to have the vaccine just pay for it. I can't see the problem.

poppycat10 · 22/02/2021 16:55

My mum repeatedly had shingles until she had the vaccine. Since then - nothing. It worked for her.

campion · 22/02/2021 17:02

Getting chickenpox at 33 wasn't funny. I'd take the vaccine whatever it costs.

Original poster

CottonCandy01 · 22/02/2021 17:11

I am paying for it. The problem is not everyone has that luxury - that's a very obvious problem.

OP posts:

MessagesKeepGettingClearer · 22/02/2021 17:15

Chicken pox isn't dangerous for the vast majority of children. Therefore no, it shouldn't be included. If it is, it will be at a cost and we can't afford to keep increasing taxes.

ancientgran · 22/02/2021 17:17

@poppycat10

My mum repeatedly had shingles until she had the vaccine. Since then - nothing. It worked for her.

Thank you for sharing that. I live in hope that when I get it shingles will be over for me.

I suppose I could look at paying for it. I hadn't thought of that. Must have a google.

Original poster

CottonCandy01 · 22/02/2021 17:21

Seems strange it was considered at one time, and is currently being reviewed if it is such an innocent illness..

OP posts:

campion · 22/02/2021 17:21

@CottonCandy01

I am paying for it. The problem is not everyone has that luxury - that's a very obvious problem.

It's a particularly British view that a chickenpox vaccine isn't universally needed, so there isn't likely to be one. Other countries do it differently and allocate money for it. We don't and won't because it's not deemed serious enough and the NHS is chronically short of money. I can't see anything changing.

ancientgran · 22/02/2021 17:23

@VinylDetective

Everything else was left to chance, including polio which was a real killer.

You must be a very ancient gran! I got my polio jab when I was three.

I think I was 5. I was definitely school age because I got it at school. . It definitely wasn't available when I was a baby, according to google the rollout started in 1956 so I definitely wasn't one of the first to get it. I'll be 70 next year.

Unhomme · 22/02/2021 17:27

The NHS isn't hideously underfunded. It has too much demand on it for the funding it has.

Is how I heard it once

Beseigedbykillersquirrels · 22/02/2021 17:29

If children have the chicken pox vaccine now they risk getting shingles (which is worse and can be more dangerous) when they are a teen or adult - what part of this aren't people understanding?

It's you who isn't understanding @FrangipaniBlue

One has to have had chicken pox to get shingles. If a child has been vaccinated against chicken pox they cannot suddenly get shingles as a teen or adult.

minipie · 22/02/2021 17:29

I think that’s very apt UnHomme

We either need to accept the NHS cannot provide everything medical to everyone (which to be fair was never intended when it was founded, but seems to have become expected) OR if we want it to do that, it needs more money.

VinylDetective · 22/02/2021 17:30

I'll be 70 next year

I’m a year behind you. I don’t remember having my polio inoculation at all, I know I did though.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 22/02/2021 17:31

@CottonCandy01

Seems strange it was considered at one time, and is currently being reviewed if it is such an innocent illness..

It's just a UK/NHS specific decision.

Nothing odd. Just a decision that best met UK needs at the time. New data, new review, who know what the revised recommendation will be?

CuriousaboutSamphire · 22/02/2021 17:33

@VinylDetective

I'll be 70 next year

I’m a year behind you. I don’t remember having my polio inoculation at all, I know I did though.

Possibly because it wasn't an injection. It was a sugar cube or dripped directly onto the tongue.

I imagine I can still taste it 😕

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