Chicken pox vaccine

[dalel]

Hi I'm new and been seeing a few post on the chicken pox vaccine.

Thinking of getting my daughter vaccinated against it. It is going round her nursery at the moment so more than likely she is going to get it anytime now.

Whenever she's Ill with anything it really does affect her bad.

Would you advise me getting got her?
What are the pros and cons?
Is it worth it?

I'm really in 2 minds

I live in Australia where the chicken pox vaccine is part of our scheduled vaccines, paid for by the government so it wasn't actively a choice I made. However I'm happy that my children had it. I know a few adults who suffer from shingles (linked to chicken pox) and it's horrible. Even if the chicken pox isn't really bad, it's uncomfortable and can leave scars if the child can't leave them alone, so I am totally pro vaccination.

I'm the UK. I paid privately for DC to have it. It's routine in many countries. I've read all the pros/cons and considered that whilst many children have it and get over it, it's still really unpleasant and can leave scarring.

It's routine here. I would get it. It didn't exist when I was a child. I caught chicken pox when I was 13. I was super sick, had scarring for years, and missed at least a month of school.

My DD is vaccinated and it feels like a weight off with her starting nursery soon. A con being the cost, but totally worth the money IMO (£140 for both doses).

We decided to go for it so she has some immunisation if she doesn't catch it in childhood. My mum caught CP as an adult and was very unwell. Also, simply because it's a horrible, uncomfortable virus and we want her to be protected against the symptoms as much as possible.

From a practical point of view, saves taking time off work/ out of childcare/school...or having to keep a toddler indoors for a week 😳

Apparently the injection itself is pretty painless, wriggled a lot when getting it done but didn't cry.

If she gets it at nursery that will take the decision out of your hands but if she doesn't get it in this wave then I think it's worth getting.

My DD (3yrs) has just been discharged from hospital after spending 3 days on strong IV antibiotics. She caught chickenpox last week and one of the pox opened up and became seriously infected. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

I’m currently pregnant with no.2 and will 100% be getting them vaccinated.

We've had DC done. One currently has a rash and we can discount CP. A relative had a similar rash and the doctor wasn't sure if it CP or not so now the parents don't know if the child is immune or not.
It's the possible blindness, deafness, stroke, scaring and stress of it all that I wanted to avoid. When your child is sick you'd do anything to make them better, in this case you can prevent it happening.

I got it for my girl. I had chicken pox as an adult, and it was horrible.

All three of mine have been done. Worth it. NHS says to have two doses of the vaccine. Mine has no issues. My subliming and I are scarred by chicken pox. My kids are too beautiful and we both worn full time and don't want the hassle of them getting it.

I had both my toddlers vaccinated against it last year. Well worth the money as chickenpox has rampaged their peers at nursery and I haven't been worried at all. Worth it for the peace of mind if nothing else (and yes, I realise that it's not 100% effective but in my mind, the chances of them catching it are slim to none).

Probably pointless doing your dc until the spread at nursery is over though, as you have to wait 4 weeks between vaccinations and it would be annoying to pay for it and then then not have full immunity and catch it in the meantime.

I have a friend who is a doctor who really recommends against it, if you have a fit and healthy child. The view is that with less chickenpox in childhood generally, the chances of shingles in adulthood increases as adults aren’t exposed to low levels of chickenpox. Shingles in vulnerable adults can be really dangerous.

I chose not to have DD vaccinated against it and she has it very mildly, just a few days of temperature and about 20 spots over her body

I got my 2 done and will be getting the baby done. It’s on most other countries’ routine vaccine schedule. My friend has just got through 6 weeks with her 2 boys having horrendous pox one after the other. Yep, miserable for 3 weeks each. Not worth it imo! Why not avoid it if you can.

And of course the effects on work of having ill kids for 6 weeks. Not great.

Why does your doctor friend think we should subject children to a disease which at best is very uncomfortable and at worst can lead to hospitalisation / death? Why not just vaccinate adults against shingles?

Another benefit of CO vaccine is that you are a lot less likely to get shingles (although it is possible as a live vaccine)

I wish I’d known about it for my children, they got it when they were 15 and 17 and were both very ill and off school for a couple of weeks or more. Was just relieved it wasn’t exam time for either of them. I would have got it for them at end of primary school but wasn’t aware there was a vaccine.

From the research I have done, the only con is the cost. There is some concern that the vaccine might wear off, in which case a booster might be needed, but there’s no evidence of this from countries that started vaccinating 20 years ago

pros - save your child from having a horrific disease / save you from having to take a week off work to look after her.

Vaccine can be effective up to 5 days after exposure so worth doing asap if CP is already doing the rounds at nursery

I know your friend is a doctor so maybe I’m missing something but don’t follow this at all. There is a shingles vaccine and other countries have been vaccinating for so long now that I imagine we’d know if there a problem- the first babies to have it as routine vaccination in the US, for example, are now 27 years old!

I got it for DD and will get it for DD2 when she's old enough. A little girl just returned to one of our toddler classes after having chicken pox and she is absolutely covered in scabbed over spots and indents on her face. I wouldn't let my child go through that when we can afford a very effective vaccine to avoid it. It was a no brainer for us.

This explains it on a cost basis as to why the NHS doesn’t vaccinate but you can also see why it leads to greater numbers of shingles in the adult population

www.ox.ac.uk/research/everything-you-need-know-about-chickenpox-and-why-more-countries-don’t-use-vaccine

“So why reject the vaccine?
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.”

And yes my kids have had the vaccine. DD had it combined with the MMR when we lived in the US and it was mandatory to attend daycare/school in our state so there was no choice really except to have it. DS was born after we moved back to the UK so he had his privately at Boots.

So glad you posted this op as I'm having the same debate. Ds1 starts school in September and I really wanted it out the way before it disrupts his schooling and also know the older they get it the worse it is. Having read all these replies I think I'm going to get it for both kids.

www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/analysis/uk-chickenpox-vaccination/

This talks about the NHS's shingles claims.

'However, the statistics in favour of this are shaky. Several studies and surveillance data show no consistent trends in shingles incidence in countries that have introduced routine childhood varicella vaccines, indicating that the hypothesis of using children as living booster jabs may not have a strong basis in reality.
But there are also more fundamental ethical objections to this practice. In a 2014 Guardian editorial, University College London scientist Jenny Rohn argued that “sick children should not be exploited as living vaccines for older people when there is a perfectly serviceable jab on the market – especially as the evidence that they really do stimulate a protective response against older people’s shingles is not very robust.”
Varicella vaccines could eliminate shingles risk altogether
As well as protecting against chickenpox, varicella vaccines also seem to cut the risk of shingles occurring altogether. A 2019 US study found that approximately 38 in 100,000 children vaccinated against chickenpox developed shingles per year, compared to 170 per 100,000 unvaccinated children.
Paediatric shingles is already pretty rare, and it’s not clear yet what these results could mean for adult shingles rates in the future.
The first generation to receive varicella vaccines in the US is currently in their early to mid-20s, and shingles reactivation becomes much more common after the age of 50, so researchers will need to follow a cohort of children who have been vaccinated against chickenpox and see what happens.'

I'm a medical doctor and spent hours researching this at the time (5 years ago).
After weighing up all the evidence I paid to have my children done when they were infants.
There were no ill effects and I have no regrets.
Certainly no regrets regarding how ill I have seen some kids since, the unsightly scarring, disruption to schooling and work etc.
There is very, very scanty evidence of reactivation in nerve roots causing an increase in shingles when older which was the only negatives I could find in the literature at the time etc.

We considered it when our girls were very young but decided against it based on cost (best part of £300 for 2x2 doses) and the fact it's considered pat for the course in uk childhood.
They both caught pox at almost the same time aged 5 and 6 respectively and yes whilst it might be medically 'mild' for most and it was for ours too on paper, they were poorly and miserable for a week. We also had to quarantine for best part of 2 weeks and both of them have some scarring.
In hindsight we wished we had vaccinated them - the talk of chicken pox parties and 'everyone gets it anyway' makes light of something pretty horrible and avoidable.

Anecdotal but I was really sick for 3 weeks at 7 yrs old. Couldn't eat, couldn't walk, covered in them.
Have a permanent visible facial scar too.