Chicken pox vaccine for 1 year old

[hmmjauso]

Would you? Have you? No idea what’s best!

I would and have. In most places it's a standard vaccine and I'm not convinced about the shingles argument.

We got it for our son, although I think he might have been closer to 2 by the time we got round to it. I highly recommend it - chickenpox is a horrible illness and if it can be avoided or mitigated then that’s brilliant! I don’t really understand why it’s not part of the normal suite of childhood vaccinations except the usual lack of funding for the NHS etc.

I did for my daughter, was very glad that I did as several weeks after her second vaccine there was an outbreak at her nursery. She didn’t catch it and I was so glad because it’s such an unpleasant illness, especially for little children who don’t understand that they shouldn’t scratch!

Yep, vaccinated both of mine, in a lot of countries it's a standard childhood vaccine. No issues following them having it.

All 3 of my kids had it as children. It’s a standard vaccine where I live and I’ve never known of a kid (in my kids age ranges) to get chicken pox.

I paid for both of my children to have it. Haven’t regretted it.

I did and I will again.

On a previous thread like this a poster seemed to think the JCVI might add it to the NHS vaccine schedule.

Yes we’ve paid and had it for both of ours. My neice was hospitalised with CPox and it was horrendous so it’s not always mild.

it’s a cost reason the uk don’t offer it on nhs

It's expensive, for a start.

Yes - DD had the first dose the day after her first birthday. It's money well-spent in my view. Firstly, chickenpox is horrible. I had to have hospital treatment when I got it as a child - it was excruciatingly painful and left nasty scars. Second, given the amount of childhood illnesses that I'm already trying to juggle with a full-time job, anything I can do to minimise having to take time off is sensible!

It's standard in the country my kids were born but supply issues meant they couldn't have it, so I have tried to book it privately in the UK and not had much luck. My local pharmacy advertised it online as a service they offered so I booked it but when I went in they acted all confused and told me we needed to go to our NHS GP (for a private vaccine that the pharmacy clearly advertised and the GP didn't!)
So we plan to get this organised once we can find somewhere that will actually do it.
Hope you can get it sorted OP. The system in the UK of rubbing kids over each other to encourage contagion is archaic.

Yep all my 3 children have had it. Money well spent in my opinion.

Yes, I can't see any reason not to.

Only issue from my point of view is that I couldn't find any information if they need another dose or follow up booster at any point (after the two doses a month apart).

Apart from health reasons, I know people who have had holidays snd birthday parties cancelled through chicken pox

No, I didn’t get it for my children. They both caught chickenpox around age 5 and were fine. Isn’t natural immunity supposed to be better and last longer?
I did consider getting the vaccine if they hadn’t caught it naturally by the time they were teenagers

I did with my dcs and recently had a break out at school and neither of them picked it up! Worth it in my opinion!

Apart from the fact it’s very expensive?

That’s a pretty good reason not to.

Yes, for sure. It's a horrible illness and I know 2 children who developed encephalitis from it.
It also seems to protect against future shingles, which natural immunity doesn't.

I never got round to having ds vaccinated, I'll blame covid, he picked it up just after dd was born. He had it very mildly but she was really poorly. Wish I'd had him done.

Cost-of-living crisis? What cost-of-living crisis??

I worked out it was cheaper than the unpaid time I would have to take off work to look after inflicted children

That may be, but there are still plenty of people who literally don't have that luxury.

"It's expensive" is a very valid reason for some people not to get their kids vaccinated.

Yes, paid for it during lockdown. Went through three outbreaks at nursery clear. It's been around 25+ years now and is on the regular vaccine schedule for many Western countries, so absolutely no concerns. They advised he may need a top-up in his teens if the research by then suggests immunity wanes, but no reason to think it will - just bring cautious.

I did not relish the thought of juggling two weeks off work.

Yes I got my kids vaccinated. Even mild cases are unpleasant and can leave scars. There's nothing to guarantee they wouldn't have a severe case either, it's not that rare.

I didnt. My kids have had chicken pox and were poorly but bot that bad really. I think though if money wasn't a factor I may have paid for it. I had a friend who's child was seriously unwell and hospitalised, infected spots think they had to sedate her to change dressings in the end as she was in agony. Was a terrible stressful few days for the parents and when she was past the dangerous but she was still ill for ages. Most kids are not too bad but some amd it's not that rare are very unwell

My siblings didn’t contract chicken pox until they were adults, and both were very ill indeed. The expense of the shot is worth avoiding the disease. The cost is easier to contemplate if you consider the unpaid time off you’d need off work if your child had chicken pox.