To have my child vaccinated against chicken pox...

[MummaT86]

... even though there's no medical reason to do so (i.e. chicken pox doesn't pose a risk to anyone he's in contact with)?

To be honest my reasons are kind of selfish for getting him vaccinated - he picks up everything from nursery so it's only a matter time I think. We've got a holiday booked in September and I understand you can't fly for 7 days after the first spot.

Has anyone had their child vaccinated privately and why did you do it? I haven't read any cons to the vaccination itself in respect of the child being vaccinated; only to the wider population hence why the vaccine isn't part of the routine NHS program.

We chose not to vaccinate having read a little more in to it. Partly because exposure to chickenpox offers a dose of immunity against shingles for those grownups who had chickenpox as children. And partly because the immunity from the vaccine is only 90% which is good, but with girls and potential future pregnancies, we felt that catching it would be preferable.

I didn't have it done, but was going to if the older one hadn't had it by the time she started school. I'd have done the little one at the same time.

However, they had it within weeks of each other - DD1 got it very mildly, but DD2 was only 10 months old and she was really quite poorly with it. She had so many pocks at the top of her bum that there was no skin between them. If I could have had her done and spared her that, I would have done. She had them in her hair and her ears and her mouth, and had this über-pock in the corner of her eye that worried me sick in case it got infected.

The fact that CP is generally medically 'mild' doesn't mean that it's not a really shit experience for everybody concerned. So I'd go for it, OP!

But you’re assuming your child will catch it ‘naturally’. Ours just didn’t, despite repeated waves of it in school class and among neighbours during Reception, year one and year two. At 7, we decided to take the bull by the horns and vaccinate.

Everyone in Australia gets a free one- I would pay for it if they didn't.

It can be serious, and even when it's not serious it's ghastly.

I'd get it done for sure

My DC had it and nearly died. Her immune system was so low with it she picked up a Strep A and Staph infection at the same time. A boy similar age to her at the time (crawling age) died. About 20 children in the country die of chickenpox each year (numbers went down over the pandemic) and lots are left with scars or hearing problems etc.

If I had my time again I would definitely vaccinate.

@PrayerFactory Yes absolutely- I would have done the same as you. They all caught it this Easter (the 5 week old baby too). For us it was mild and one of the better childhood illnesses as it had a definite end (once the pox had scabbed over).

we did

standard practice in many other countries

i will ask DD to get another vaccine when she is older to keep up protection

Cp can be very very nasty

I can feel my blood pressure spiking even reading that! Glad it was mild!

Yes I paid and had both my kids vaccinated. I had it done at boots for about £100. It's standard in many countries. I believe the main reason it isn't offered on the NHS is cost. Countries like Australia who routinely vaccinate children against chicken pox do not seem to have an increased incidence of shingles. So there isn't any actual evidence to back up this claim.

It's a horrible illness and often leaves scars.

I had it done for DD as soon as I possibly could - Superdrug will do the first dose at 9 months if I remember rightly. She had the second dose a couple of weeks after her 1 year jabs.

my reasons were:

1. while it is a small chance, chickenpox can kill. It can also disable, and require hospitalisation. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I had known about the vaccination and been able to afford it but hadn’t and then that had happened.
2. I didn’t want her to have scarring - I know lots of adults who have chicken pox scars that they are very self conscious about, and they can appear anywhere.
3. Researching how severe chicken pox can be - they can get pox internally, in their ears, eyes etc. and I couldn’t imagine how horrible it would be to itch all over inside and out if she did get it badly.
4. I remember having it myself and being itchy and miserable, and being so frustrated that I couldn’t scratch when I desperately wanted to.
5. It would have cost us more in time off work and nursery days we’d have had to pay for than the cost of both rounds of the vaccination.

no regrets! One of the best decisions I’ve made and I tell all my friends about it as lots of people don’t know about it. I’ve spoken to lots of parents who didn’t know about it and wished they’d known and had it done before their children got it.

We got both our children vaccinated as soon as we could. Really easy jab with zero side effects. Did it after one of my child’s friends got v ill with infected CP. CP is nasty.

YANBU. I had DS vaccinated at 2. Worth every penny.

Not at all. Just because the cheapskate NHS won’t offer it, doesn’t mean it isn’t a medically sound decision to vaccinate. Most of the countries in the developed world offer the vaccine as standard. Mine have all been vaccinated and have never caught it. We get loads of emails from school every year telling us of this outbreak and that. I write back to each one and suggest they promote vaccination!

It’s drives me insane that the NHS making what is clearly a financial decision not to offer it as standard, like lots of other developed countries, has convinced people it’s not good idea to do.

Absolutely baffling.

I know people always say it’s a mild illness but sometimes it isn’t. DC1 caught it at school and wasn’t that unwell. DC2 caught it next and was absolutely smothered in spots and so, so ill. With hindsight I wish I’d vaccinated. I did consider it but the cost and inconvenience of finding a private clinic but me off.

Children can get very unwell with it. It’s time off school for them, time off work for you. At best it’s very unpleasant and since it’s dangerous to reach adulthood with no immunity, a decision not to vaccinate when you can afford to is literally hoping they will suffer because you are wanting them to catch it. There’s also no guarantee that they will even get it in childhood, especially with more people vaccinating, and the vaccine is less effective in adults so best to get it done young. It’s been on the standard vaccine schedule in the US, Australia, Canada and most of Europe for years so we know it’s safe, we know that there hasn’t been a huge rise in shingles cases (and there’s a vaccine for singles anyway) and we know it’s fine when girls grow up and get pregnant because the first American recipients are now 26 and many will have had their own children. Absolute no brainer IMO.

We vaccinated because I had it when I was 19 and it was hideous, and I didn't want him to have to go through it. Also because we both work and time off for chicken pox would be a total pain. But really, I don't understand why it isn't on the NHS already. It's a safe, effective vaccine which spares children from a horrible disease. Some of my friends' children have been absolutely covered in spots, some of which got infected. It's really nasty.

Catching CP naturally isn't 100% effective against it anyway, you can get it again especially if the first dose is mild (I know someone with an auto-immune condition who's had it three times). Plus once you've had chicken pox, you can get shingles. Personally I seem to get very mild flare ups of one or two very itchy pox spots when I'm very run down. It's a funny old illness, vaccination seemed most sensible.

We’ve just done it. Couldn’t be bothered to deal with a full strain of chicken pox and felt this was a better option for us. We both work FT and have intense jobs. Taking time off to take care of the kids would be a lot more hassle.

Make sure you get vaccinated privately as well.

This, we’re one of the only nations with a healthcare system not to. To protect the elderly from shingles by them getting a boost by being exposed to CP grandkids. They’ll be a generation of adults that miss out but will catch up again with shingles vaccine

Yes vaccinated here however it’s a standard vaccine in Australia where we lived at those ages.

My husband and his brother both developed type 1 diabetes as a result of a vicious strain of chicken pox that destroyed their pancreas. We vaccinated our child as soon as we could. Even though the risk of something awful resulting from it is minimal, chicken pox is a miserable illness and I think it is worth avoiding if you can.

The other thing that annoys me is that people who choose not to vaccinate often trot out this idea that the vaccine wears off in adulthood and you’ll catch CP then and be really ill or pregnant or whatever.

This is bizarre on a number of levels.

Firstly, they’ve got about 25 years of data now and there’s no evidence so far that that’s true.

Secondly, even if it was, you’d just have a booster jab.

Thirdly, you can catch chicken pox naturally more than once anyway - so the point is moot. Anyone could get it again in adulthood!

We had our DD vaccinated, though a big gap between first and second due to confusion about the ins and outs of it. (The first jab was supposed to offer 70% immunity and we weren't sure if the second was totally necessary but went ahead recently).

It's not very well known about in our region.Notably the pharmacist told me that most of his clients are doctors and their kids.

We got DC vaccinated privately.
Reason being they were getting older and still hadn’t caught it when it was going around, so we feared they would get it when older when it can be more dangerous. Know of quite a few people whos kids had it really bad and with some awful side effects including hospitalisation. Those people definitely wish they had their kids vaccinated rather than have them catch it and suffer as they did.
If I’m honest thought, the actual main reason is I would be so pissed off if they caught it say on holiday/just before a holiday/Christmas/any other special occasion or particularly inconvenient time.
it seems fairly commonplace in lots of other countries, and has been for a long time which alleviated my fears of any long term negative effects.