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.

My DS (3) is getting vaccinated next week & there's not any medical need.

My reasons for doing so is that he's in nursery and I simply cannot afford to have that length of time off for the exclusion period unpaid from work.

I thought he might catch it whilst I was on Mat leave with DS (10 months) but he didn't and I'm back now and by the time the little one catches it as well I'll not be able to make the mortgage payment.

I need to avoid having to take unpaid leave as much as I can so when there are bugs I can't avoid them getting I can use AL etc to cover.

I'll be having the little one done as soon as he's one and the 4 weeks have passed from his MMR.

DS knows about jabs as recently had his preschool boosters and he's not bothered in the slightest, he's already told me he's looking forward to getting a sticker and a chocolate lollipop.

A secondary reason is I don't see why he should go through being poorly & uncomfortable when it's easily preventable.

I would say of mt parent friend group about 50% opt to get the vaccination for their children.

I thought I had acquired immunity to CP, but got it when I was 37.

A couple of years later, I had an attacks of shingles, and got it several times over the next few years.

I didn't know that the CP vaccine wasn't available on the NHS, and am pretty shocked, tbh. I've just had another attack of shingles, and will be getting a shingles vaccine in the autumn, on the NHS.

Thank you everyone for your replies to my post, my son is booked in to have the vaccine first thing in the morning

Good choice
Wish I had done the same

We've had the first jab - did anyone's child have any side effects and how long after the injection?

No side effects when 1yo DS had it

Two spots on his tummy nearly 2 weeks later, which faded by end of the day. He was a little bit tired that day too. He was similar with MMR but had a temperature with that.

Thanks for the thread by the way, you reminded me to sort out DS's BCG. No idea why they are only doing babies now and missing older kids, it makes no sense to me when it's a lifetime jab.

My DC had theirs a fortnight ago. No side effects here, if anything they were rather hyped up the rest of the day (learning disabilities and ASD though so this isn't all that unusual here!) Booked for the second at the end of the month so hoping no side effects then either!

Good choice!

No side effects for my youngest who had the separate jabs at Boots. My eldest had the MMRV in the US and did have a fever but it was impossible to tell what bit specifically caused that.

I was going to get my youngest vaccinated after she turned one, the day after her birthday she got chicken pox, she was so poorly it was horrific!

We travel abroad a lot and the CP vaccine was part of the childhood vaccines in many of the places we visit so we paid privately.
The vaccine also offers protection against shingles in later life.

I know of several children who have been
left with life altering issues post CP. One is partly deaf and the other has a sight issue.
My nephew is also terribly scarred.

It would be part of the MMR vaccine programme in the U.K. if it didn’t boil down to cost.

@ThickSkinnedSoWhat I have just had my 4 year old vaccinated, to very mixed reactions.
What were the mixed reactions?

Reactions of people, not reactions as in side effects. A lot of people I know thought I was wasting money and being snobbish by paying for the vaccine, likely as its private, reasonably expensive and I'm not in any way well off. Was told it was just chickenpox and I was being lazy by trying to avoid it etc.

Had both of my children vaccinated - purely to protect them. Chickenpox is mainly mild but can be very nasty.

I had both mine vaccinated.

I think the argument put forward by the NHS that using children catching a nasty virus may protect adults from shingles is extremely ethically questionable. In fact just specious; it's really about saving money.

And they are concerned about immunization compliance if add more jabs to the routine program.

I had both of my kids vaccinated a few years ago. My reasoning was that despite being exposed to the illness several times, my eldest never caught it. By the end of year 6, she was the only child in her class who hadn't experienced it. I decided to privately vaccinate both of them at the same time since they were missing opportunities to catch it naturally, as most of my youngest child's friends had already contracted it when they were much younger. The research I read at the time also suggested that the illness could be much more severe when contracted at an older age. Interestingly, my dad actually caught it from me when I was a toddler, and he became very unwell. I do have concerns about the long-term effectiveness of the vaccine, but my GP confirmed that immunity can be tested later on and they could choose to have booster injections if needed, although that's more relevant in adulthood. Chicken pox can be very nasty and I do believe the NHS dont vaccinate due to cost and not the risks to children and many other countries routinely include this vaccine so if you can afford it I would vaccinate.

Both of my DC got chicken pox, long before there was a vaccine. I still got shingles at the age of 45, so it didn't help me and I think the "protection for adults" is nothing but BS.

I also got the shingles' vaccine. Never, ever, ever do I want to experience that again.

I just wanted to comment on here for anyone reading this to make a decision on the vaccine.
I found out about it earlier this year. I thought about it for a long time, did lots of research and weighed up the pros and cons. I researched which companies offer it, the prices and even the nurses administering it and their careers
My son is 2.5 years old and catches EVERYTHING from nursery. He can get very, very ill and has been admitted to hospital multiple times. He also seems to be in the minority of children who get severely ill with a virus or gets diagnosed with something that he's statistically unlikely to suffer with. So I'd place money on him suffering with chicken pox more than the average child. I felt that if there's something I can do to prevent him getting ill, then I'll do it.
He had his 1st dose yesterday (no side effects yet) and will have the next dose next year. Ours cost £75 per dose and I'd definitely do it for future children.
I hope this helps!

I got my kids vaccinated a few years ago.

They had both been exposed to it lots of times, and never got it. Then 2 days before we were due to fly to disney, there was an outbreak of it in their class (tiny school). So I got then vaccinated because you can get it within so long after exposure. They were both fine. My boy got a few spots on his stomach a week later that cleared up within a few hours. They weren't ill. I was also self employed meaning I couldn't work for x amount of time if both got it so no pay. I'd recommend it tbh

I wouldn’t
The reports on length of protection vary and getting pox as an adolescent or adult is much more serious than as a child.

I think this is about to be added to the nhs schedule anyway

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jcvi-recommends-chickenpox-vaccine-in-childhood-immunisation-programme

If it is added to the schedule it will be much preferable to vaccinate as the chance of catching it before adulthood will be so much lower as less will be circulating

No-one knows exactly how long protection will last because it's only been around for about 30 years. However there is currently no sign of reduction in protection in children who were initially vaccinated, who will now be well into adulthood.

When we had our child vaccinated we were advised to look up data on how immunity is going when he's in his late teens, before he leaves our protection, so 15+ years from when it was done. We could then book a booster if it looks like it's needed at that stage.

Following this with interest. My elder two had chicken pox when young as I'd never heard of the vaccine. One mild case but left a scar, one worse case but thankfully nothing severe. However.my youngest is now 8 and I want.to get them vaccinated as they haven't even been exposed to it yet. I've heard boots and superdrug do it so I am looking at those