Page 5 | Chicken pox vaccine for 1 year old

hmmjauso · 2023-10-19T16:44:02+00:00

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

Lifeinlists · 21/10/2023 08:59

I would 100% advise the vaccine. I didn't get CP as a child despite coming into contact with it. Instead I got it aged 33 and was very ill for 3 weeks and pretty ropey for a while after.

It was a horrible way to get lifelong immunity, I can tell you. I'm still twitchy when anyone mentions chickenpox!

DragonFly98 · 21/10/2023 11:17

Caspianberg · 21/10/2023 06:52

From NHS website

‘Being exposed to chickenpox as an adult (for example, through contact with infected children) boosts your immunity to shingles.
If you vaccinate children against chickenpox, you lose this natural boosting, so immunity in adults will drop and more shingles cases will occur.’

1)Chicken pox vaccine also protects against shingles
2) there is vaccine for shingles
3) children should not suffer to be living vaccines for adults

SnapdragonToadflax · 21/10/2023 12:47

I work with colleagues in the US and they were pretty horrified to hear we don't routinely vaccinate against chicken pox. It's completely standard there, with no evidence that immunity wanes thus far.

Curiosity101 · 21/10/2023 12:52

Curiosity101 · 20/10/2023 16:30

This is a nice explanation of the effect of the chicken pox vaccine and why the NHS reasoning for not giving it doesn't make any scientific / logical sense. And the NHS explanation as to why it's not routine.

Partial quote from the NHS:
If a childhood chickenpox vaccination programme was introduced, people would not catch chickenpox as children because the infection would no longer circulate in areas where the majority of children had been vaccinated.
This would leave unvaccinated children susceptible to getting chickenpox as adults, when they're more likely to develop a more severe infection or a secondary complication.
It would also increase instances of chickenpox during pregnancy, when there's a risk of the infection harming the baby

The only thing missing from the explanation I linked to is the information on uptake of vaccinations.
In the USA I think the chicken pox vaccine is given as part of MMR (theirs is called MMRV). So if we look at the uptake of MMR in the UK it's 93.4% as of last year. And the estimated % of the population who have been exposed to Chicken Pox is maybe between 90-95% ish. I'm struggling to find lots of stats that I trust for that but it's clearly not massively different to the % uptake the vaccine would (theoretically) have.

So yeah... it all comes down to ££
If you give kids the chicken pox vaccine as part of the childhood schedule then you almost certainly need to pair it with giving younger adults the shingles vaccine until all the kids that were originally vaccinated are elderly and you can test to see if shingles rates have dropped. But both of those things are additional ££ that the NHS don't want/have to spend.

I'm just fortunate I had the option to go private for my two kids.

Edited

@DragonFly98 - Exactly. I posted a relatively comprehensive explanation up thread ^^ But you were more succinct 😄

To add to the above and address the
"It only confers immunity for 10-20 years" - This really is a misunderstanding of the information. What they (health care professions, NHS, scientists etc) mean is "We only have data to prove immunity for 10-20 years so that is all we can claim". Because the test population they're referring to is only ~25 years old. You can't make claims about immunity length until you have a large enough population of people who have had the vaccination for the length of time you're measuring against. The data shows immunity for up to 25 years at the moment - but there's no reason to expect that to wane over time. Immunity might wane, but it may reasonably infer lifetime immunity even without a booster. Scientists and healthcare providers can't make that statement though cause they don't know.

Whether people vaccinate or not is 100% up to them. But it should be an informed choice.

The Effectiveness of Varicella Vaccine: 25 Years of Postlicensure Experience in the United States

Abstract. We summarize studies of varicella vaccine’s effectiveness for prevention of varicella and lessons learned during the first 25 years of the varicella v

https://academic.oup.com/jid/article-abstract/226/Supplement_4/S425/6764809?redirectedFrom=fulltext

HasleOs · 21/10/2023 12:56

I did for mine because my sister nearly died from chickenpox (she ended up in a wheelchair for a while afterwards too).

It was £70 for each vaccine and I’d happily do it all again. No side effects and no sign of chickenpox.

MrsSkylerWhite · 21/10/2023 13:03

Yes, absolutely. Why wouldn’t you?

InTheRainOnATrain · 21/10/2023 17:21

SnapdragonToadflax · 21/10/2023 12:47

I work with colleagues in the US and they were pretty horrified to hear we don't routinely vaccinate against chicken pox. It's completely standard there, with no evidence that immunity wanes thus far.

Not just standard, it’s actually mandatory in a lot of the US- no vaccines, including the MMRV = no school or daycare!

Gifgirl · 22/10/2023 13:20

AgaMM · 20/10/2023 20:38

I know this may seem like an absurd concept, but some people do prioritise their finances differently to you.

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I know this may sound absurd but I was referring to people who are saying "why wouldn't you get then vaccinated".

Gifgirl · 22/10/2023 13:24

Belltentdreamer · 20/10/2023 16:25

Couple of weeks off work tends to be more expensive

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You are right, of course, it would be more expensive. But many, many people don't have a spare £150+ laying around.

Gifgirl · 22/10/2023 13:25

nobleisle · 20/10/2023 13:43

As for the cost- it's £140, that's less than 2 days in nursery which she'd miss if she got it anyway so 🤷‍♀️

Again, many people don't have £140 laying around.