To get DS vaccinated against chickenpox?

[HamCob]

DS 6 hasn't had chickenpox and although there are some germs flying around school at the moment I haven't heard of anyone having chicken pox in a fairly long while.

I'm getting a bit anxious that he hasn't had it yet as I know it can be quite nasty at any age but particularly in teens/adulthood.

DH thinks along the lines of 'well catching it never did me any harm' but one of my secondary school friends was hospitalised when it went into her spinal cord and travelled to her brain so I admit to being a bit twitchy.

I'm not sure whether to wait and see if he catches it naturally or get the vaccination. I don't want to hang on too long though as the vaccination is more effective in children than teens or adults.

So AIBU to get him vaccinated or would you hold off?

My DS had it when I was pregnant with DS2. The GP randomly had a blood sample of mine and tested for antibodies. I haven't had CP before. Had to get the IG-injection, loads of extra scans, and be consultant - led for the remainder of my pregnancy. I developed 2 spots, the GP came in on Saturdays to check on me and I had to isolate for 28 days. So yes, I would vaccinate if I could and can.

@FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop

I believe the reason the NHS don't provide the vaccination is because if you don't get chicken pox at a young age, your chances of getting shingles as an adult (potentially hugely damaging and can even be life threatening) increase. The vaccine being administered as a child won't protect against shingles as an adult.

You only get shingles if you've had chicken pox in the past as shingles is a reactivation of the CP virus. It's thought that exposure to chicken pox in those that have had chicken pox before helps to boost the immune system to prevent shingles

@FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop

I believe the reason the NHS don't provide the vaccination is because if you don't get chicken pox at a young age, your chances of getting shingles as an adult (potentially hugely damaging and can even be life threatening) increase. The vaccine being administered as a child won't protect against shingles as an adult.

That’s weird because one of the reasons the Aus gov provide the chicken pox vaccine is because it is supposed to lesson the risk of developing shingles.

I’d absolutely get your DC vaccinated if you can.

@FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop I find that NHS info deliberately confusing.

You get shingles because you had CP previously, and the virus is dormant in your system from then on. The children who have the vaccine ARE protected from shingles as an adult.

That page appears to say that the reason we don’t have an NHS chicken pox vaccine programme is because adults who have already had CP and therefore have a chance of getting shingles later, need the booster exposure from mixing with kids with CP.

but if all kids had the vaccine, surely this excuse would become irrelevant in a generation? Either way, I would rather protect my child (and any child) against entering the cycle of CP/shingles, than i would protect myself and the rest of my generation against the raised shingles risk.

I got my daughter vaccinated once I'd had the anti body test to see if she'd had a mild dose.

I had chickenpox as an adult and was really poorly.

In the US the chicken pox vaccine is given as standard for free with all insurance and government policies. Probably because the costs of treating the disease are higher than the cost of the vaccine. Which means that enough people/kids have significant problems when they catch it.

All my dc were vaccinated. Its a very sensible option from my perspective

I’ve been reading about this, consulting friends who are doctors (GPs and specialists), and still cannot decide.

If I was certain that the protection against the chickenpox and shingles was as good from the vaccine as it is from having chickenpox, I’d get my kids vaccinated immediately. However, that is not clear at all - the protection seems to wear out (my understanding is that it’s only been around for a few decades so we don’t know how exactly the protection drops long term but it does decline), and there is some data (as pp says) that it doesn’t protect from adult shingles. So the high probability of avoiding a usually mild childhood disease is a traded for a low probability of having a really nasty disease as an adult.

The calculation is of course different in countries where almost everyone is vaccinated and the virus doesn’t circulate much, because there a vaccinated adult is less likely to even encounter the virus at a later point in life so the probability of getting CP / shingles is even lower. I’d be inclined to vaccinate in that case too, especially if recommended by the NHS or equivalent.

Right now and here I am honestly unsure.

I wish I'd vaccinated my boys. Eldest got it aged 18months and suffered quite badly. Second child got chicken pox aged 3 and was very unwell with it for around 3 weeks. I regret not vaccinating him.

I still have facial scarring from having chicken pox as a child. If I could have chosen, I would have opted to have it myself as a child.

Ours are done at 4yo (from memory) on the Govnt Immunisation Schedule here, so expected to be done and free. I think it forms part of the No Jab No Pay system but not sure. That’s where you don’t get certain monetary benefits relating to having by children if their vaccination is not up to date according to the schedule unless they are medically exempt.

It wasn’t around for my eldest but was by the time my youngest went through and then I had the older ones done privately (at same time, you just pay) when the youngest had theirs for free. I’m pretty sure there has been a catch up schedule for older kids though as I recall crossing something out on the school vax permission slips, writing they had it done privately when younger and attaching a copy of the page from the book so guessing it was Chickenpox as can’t recall what else it could have been. But of course I’d get my child vaccinated for something that meant they could avoid catching it. I have a long term serious condition and while it’s not definite the hypothesis (agreed among Professors I have seen) is that it is due to certain damage suffered during chickenpox as a child but doesn’t show up until later. That’s in addition to quite a few scars/pock marks that remain now several decades later.

Why wouldn’t you get him vaccinated? I really don’t understand people who say they would get their kids vaccinated by 7 / 9 or whatever? Even in a mild case, they will be uncomfortable and itchy and have to miss school for a week. Why not vaccinate to save them from that?

So the high probability of avoiding a usually mild childhood disease is a traded for a low probability of having a really nasty disease as an adult.

I was given the Shingles vaccine even though under the age limit because of the hypothesis with my condition. So under the age per Product Information and due to that obviously not as part of Govnt schedule. The Shingles vaccine is given to older people here free on the Schedule, it was deemed that I would benefit beforehand, so just had to pay. So getting Shingles when older is not a given if you vaccinate for they as well.

If you do go down the vaccine route, you need to remember that their immunity may wane after 10-20 years and they will require periodic boosters, otherwise they could be at risk as older adults.

Either way, I would rather protect my child (and any child) against entering the cycle of CP/shingles, than i would protect myself and the rest of my generation against the raised shingles risk.

This is exactly how I feel. It’s unethical to continue to expose children to an unpleasant illness and an increased risk of shingles in later life for a theoretical protection for adults against an illness for which we already have a vaccine (shingles).

Anyway, studies have indicated that impact of the chicken pox ‘booster’ on shingles is much lower than previously thought. Countries which have had the chicken pox vaccine in their schedules for a long time have seen an increase in shingles in 31-40 year olds - which will be short term as an immunised population will reduce shingles.

Should we let kids get ill, and expose them to an increased lifetime risk of shingles, for the benefit of relatively young adults now? For me that’s an easy one.

Had my dc2 vaccinated privately. Dc1 had it badly and I just didn’t want another child of mine having it like that.

DD got through primary without catching it, so we got her vaccinated when she was a teenager. I'm not sure we realised there was a vaccine when she was younger.

Either way, I would rather protect my child (and any child) against entering the cycle of CP/shingles, than i would protect myself and the rest of my generation against the raised shingles risk.

Yup.

@SnuffleSnaffle

If you do go down the vaccine route, you need to remember that their immunity may wane after 10-20 years and they will require periodic boosters, otherwise they could be at risk as older adults.

This is only for single dose vaccines. Where there has been a double vaccine given, there is no decline in effectiveness over 10 years. No longer studies have been done yet but no reason to think this is any different after 30 or more years. Effectiveness is over 90% after ten years and breakthrough cases are mild www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/varicella/hcp/about-vaccine.html

@Carboholic my understanding was that shingles was much less likely if you've had the chickenpox vaccine, as it's a weakened form of the virus and much less likely to reactivate later in life.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/two-for-one-chickenpox-vaccine-lowers-shingles-risk-in-children/

If all children are vaccinated then adults will no longer be exposed to children with chickenpox. This exposure is thought to act as a natural booster and without it your immunity to chickenpox may be lower, so you may be more susceptible to shingles later in life. This would be a temporary thing for the unvaccinated generations though, and longer term shingles would become much rarer.

Also at the moment, as most children aren't vaccinated, I suspect a vaccinated child will probably benefit from a boosting effect from exposure to the wild virus.

I paid for both of mine to be vaccinated - was an easy decision for us seeing how poorly some children are with it, and that's just some regular cases, never mind hospitalisations. Also if they got it one after another the cost of missed work would be significant.

With regards to needing a booster, I will see what the research says about this in the future but happy to pay for them to have a booster later in life too if necessary.

@HoppingPavlova you aren't in the UK I guess?

I was going to vaccinate but while I was finding somewhere it hit.

I was going to get my youngest vaccinated before high school but she caught it in the nick of time. Think it would’ve cost about £100. I wouldn’t have hesitated to go for it because it can be more severe in teens, not to mention missing school or her feeling horribly self conscious.

My American friends can’t believe we don’t vaccinate young kids routinely, like they do.

So I vote yes, do it.

I had it from the NHS in my thirties - 2 doses.

I caught chicken pox 2 years later so I'm not sure it's that effective tbh.

I didn't vaccinate mine and they both had mild cases, but quite severe complications from it afterward. The CP itself lasted about 5 days but I would say it was about a year until we were out of the aftermath, and both kids had quite different effects from it too. If I could go back I would 100% vaccinate. They're both fine now, thankfully.

I had my oldest vaccinated privately once he got to Reception class. Bizarrely a lot of his dad's family all seemed to catch it really late in life and really suffered. No idea if this was coincidence (probably, I doubt there's a genetic element to catching a virus 'late'!) but I didn't want to keep waiting and have him be really poorly. Plus I was back at work and didn't fancy loads of time off as I was a single parent by then. And he's autistic and I wasn't sure how he'd react to the sensory experience of it all-visions of him clawing his lovely face to pieces! So on balance for him it seemed the best thing to do.

Didn't get the chance with youngest. He caught it when he was 9 months old (oldest didn't catch it) so I didn't bother getting him vaccinated at the same time. Then he caught it AGAIN when he was three and it was a fairly hefty whack and ironically yes I did end up having to have lots of time off work 🙄 He was miserable for a couple of days and then just really really spotty and unfortunately does have a couple of scars around his eyes but is neurotypical so difficult to say if DS1 would have reacted the same way as he did. Again DS1 didn't have a sniff of it. I had a great Gp who arranged for him to have an antibody test at the same time his blood was being taken for something else so I could double check he definitely hadn't had it and it had been one spot or something and nope, he managed to avoid catching it twice from his brother plus a couple of outbreaks at pre-school! Got it done at Boots, booked online, nice and easy. Not sure if I got advantage points but knowing me that could well have influenced my decision

It was well worth it for peace of mind. Lovely GP was very much in favour of the vaccination.
Now if they could just do one for the bloody winter vomiting bug that would save me SO MUCH time off, bloody plague ridden kids