Do people still throw ‘chicken pox parties’?

[anotherday11]

My daughter (2) has recently started nursery and on the past 2 weeks there have been 4 confirmed cases of chicken pox in the toddler room which she is in.

I got talking to another mum at pick up time about it and if she was worried, she laughed and said if her child caught it she’d still send them in as she’d be “doing other parents a favour” by letting their children catch it too and that she would throw a chicken pox party at home so all her other friends with children could join too.

AIBU to think this was a thing of the past?

@LampLighter414

Since when do we vaccinate against chickenpox?

Don't see it on the NHS list, or do lots of people sort it out privately?

In most cases you need to get it done privately. I’d had mine done at Boots and the course cost £140. Many countries do offer the MMRV rather than the MMR we have here, and I believe that there are discussions as to whether add it to the routine vaccination schedule.

SIL did one a couple of months ago.

I'm afraid i was cat's bum face about it when DH read about it on family whatsap (she lives long way away) but i kept quiet ...

Older DCs got it real bad when they were young. I would have vaccinated them if it was available back then. Youngest DD is vaccinated.

Yes we paid for DD4 to be vaccinated about 3 years ago. She was 5 i think. Our big superdrug has a health clinic in it. The guy who did is was lovely. Ex A&E nurse.

2 jabs a couple of weeks apart iirc.

@BigSandyBalls2015

She had so many spots you couldn’t see any clear skin, they all joined up, absolutely everywhere eyelids, up her nose, mouth, bum. She was in a terrible state.

Same here with 2 of my older DDs. As soon as i heard about the vaccine i got youngest DC done.

It makes sense if you’re not vaccinating your children (I did) as it’s a worse disease in older people isn’t it?

It really doesn't make sense at all. Older people fare worse with covid but we still locked kids down.

No loving parent would actively put their child in harm's way . Sheer stupidity.

In the United States it is a standard vaccination for children. My DS had it as soon as it was available. My DDs had the pox before there was a vaccine. DD1 spent two weeks in the intensive care ward of our Children's Hospital because she developed thrombocytopenia as a reaction to the pox. She nearly died. It isn't just a simple children's disease.

Get the vaccine but make sure to have 2 doses.

There was a thread on here a few years ago in which a tiny child was incredibly ill with chicken pox. I think the child survived, but the poor mum was beside herself with worry. In this case, she hadn't exposed her child to chicken pox deliberately, and no-one else should do so either because you have no way of knowing how bad it will be.

It should be on the NHS vaccine schedule but like it or not (and I don’t like it) the NHS’ policy on this is that children should all catch it. So I’m that context chicken pox parties are fine. I personally got mine vaccinated and think the NHS stance on this is nonsense.

• in that context, not I’m that context