To hunt down these bastards who exposed my son to chicken pox

[littleredbumblebee]

User name changed as outing

went on a caravan holiday last week for 5 nights and my son who is 11 played with some kids from other families and had a great time- all good

On the last night one of the smaller boys was running around with no shirt on and he has spots, one of the other families asked and his mum said oh he has chicken pox but we though getting away would do him good.

I told her my son had never had chicken pox and said I bloody hoped my son was not going to come down with them. One of the other parents also said they should not have brought the kid. Basically it ended up with them going inside the caravan in a huff. The next day we all left

So today the day before my son is use to start at high school he woke up covered in spots and now has chicken pox and won’t be in for his first week at high school. Tonight he is now crying saying he won’t name any friends now and he won’t know his way around and no amount of comforting will calm him down. Very few kids for his school are going to this high school and he is so upset he will have missed out on making friends.

We have been in touch with his form tutor who has been great and has said they will support him and catch him up but I could bloody scream. How can some people be so bloody selfish.

It is not unreasonable to be angry, but be careful about how you do this. Remember, you will do your son more good at home than in prison.

Very irresponsible. Dangerous to some people who have not had chicken pox.
Can be nasty for adults with no acquired immunity. Especially bad for pregnant women who have not had CPox and people with reduced immunity- chronic illness and cancers.
Highly infectious until all spots are fully scabbed. Normally 7-10 days.
Needs to be taken seriously.

Oh my goodness, l’ve heard it all now! You are joking, surely!

Exactly this

Yes the pox party people should spare a thought for adults especially! My daughter caught it from kids at her children's nursery and was severely ill,in hospital for a week. I got it at 16 and had to stay off work for a week. So ill.

WRONG!! It is 150 pounds for 2 doses. Why are you lying?

https://www.boots.com/online/pharmacy-services/chickenpox-vaccination-service?srsltid=AfmBOopSvRv95qhb2cuj1kdpVw5mJanktbDPKYVGkIkQ5ktMVy0XSMv5

We don't have chicken pox vaccinated against as part of the vaccine schedule in the UK.
But you can get a vaccine.
Chicken pox isn't seen as an illness you should keep away from others because the NHS advice is try and catch it early so you don't have a rough time as an adult.
So this family didn't keep their kid at home which to be fair isn't the worst thing in the world when the advice is basically catch it if you can.
I think it should be in the regular vaccine schedule. They only don't because of the cost. And the fact that chicken pox "only" kills a few kids a year. Our government sucks.
If your kid reaches 8 or 9 without having had chicken pox, you'll be saving them from a potentially really rough time by paying for the vaccine.
If you're even more sensible, you'd pay for it when they are a baby.

I thought you were supposed to vaccinate kids who hadn't had it by that age

Children should get chickenpox at a very young age or not at all! Letting a grown child with CP run around and contaminate other (older) children is totally irresponsible. Our own pediatrician is in favor of "aiding" contamination in young children : the younger they get it the better and if very young it's not worse than a cold. But grown children (and adults who've not had it) should be vaccinated to not be infected by younger siblings e.o.

That’s a real shame and super irresponsible of the mum, chickenpox is vile and I had it terribly as a kid, it was miserable so I made the decision to get my kids vaccinated as soon as I could! It is expensive though, it’s £75 a dose so hardly insignificant and I’m the only one at my DDs nursery who has

agree

The NHS advice is to stay at home when you have it and to avoid contact with people vulnerable to infection.

Are PP ok? You can still get chicken pox when vaccinated. 😩🫣

You can still get covid, despite the vaccine.

I am really shocked how nasty some people are being because they think £150 for a vaccine is peanuts. You’ve heard of food banks? You know that there are families living in poverty unable to buy food?

@Overnightoats1 “The UK is one of the only countries in the developed world where they don't vaccinate against chicken pox as part of the standard schedule. The US, most of Europe and even South Africa have it on their schedule.“

I don’t know if things have changed, but it is not part of normal universal childhood vaccinations scheme in most European countries.

Below is a link to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). On page 18 it shows, vis a vis the Varicella vaccination, the countries where there is (a) No recommendation, (b) recommended for susceptible adults and at risk groups, and (c) Universal vaccination. This was updated in 2014, so 10 years ago. Things may have changed.

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/media/en/publications/Publications/Varicella-Guidance-2015.pdf

It only seemed to have been universally provided in Luxembourg, Germany, Greece, some parts of Italy, Some parts of Spain, Cyprus, and Latvia.

Portugal, Sweden and the former Eastern Bloc seem to be the ones where there was no recommendation at all.

The rest were like the UK where it was recommended for susceptible adults and at risk groups.

Shingles is a reactivation of the varicella (chickenpox) virus in an adult. So having chickenpox as a child will not prevent you from getting shingles.

I made it until my 30s without getting it, including when my child got it, so it’s not ‘inevitable’. I got the vaccination when trying for second as I didn’t want to put any future foetuses at risk.

It’s still a monumentally shitty thing to do to let your infectious child to play out with others without at least warning people.

The OP could have made a decision about her own child, then.

I genuinely don’t know anyone this crappy in real life.

Correct. It’s the same at Superdrug - £150 for two doses. It cost me £300 to get my two children vaccinated. Still a lot of money but I thought it was worth it (balanced it against the potential cost of time off work or losing a holiday or missing school).

She’s not lying. She’s got confused with the shingles vaccine, which does cost £450. Why so aggressive?

Sorry but this is not correct. The vaccine is available privately but it’s in two parts, and the two vaccines cost around £450 altogether.

ETA a misunderstanding on my part. Full course (2 doses):£460

Maybe your DS had already been in contact with chickenpox before the holiday? The incubation period for chickenpox is generally longer than a week.

Common childhood disease with unpleasant to life threatening consequences. If your kids are not vaccinated they are likely to get it, and infect others. It often sweeps through a school if most kids are not vaccinated. He may take longer to get over it (it can drag you out).
The question now is: what other vaccines is he missing? And who has he infected? Just like you, the other parents chose not to vaccinate, but had enough money to take a caravan trip. Priorities.
No one has a good look here. Play Russian roulette, get shot.as someone else pointed out, he's not missing major exams, and doesn't seem to have major consequences.

@KM123456 - @littleredbumblebee‘s son had such a bad reaction to the first chickenpox vaccine that he was hospitalised - she clearly isn’t anti-vax, but was told by the doctors that he mustn’t have the second dose.

Couldn't agree more. Some people on this thread really need to check their privilege.