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.

Aargh so sorry OP - you did try to vaccinate, missed that - very tough situation. Sorry you’re going through this. Poor lad :(

That was a tongue in cheek observation.

But the basic points I made still stand -
It's far better to catch CP before puberty than afterward.
The mother was careless, but her child was contagious before the pocks appeared, and so was the DS.

The basic point - that vaccination should be done - also stands. None of this illness, discomfort, inconvenience, or loss of time would happen if the NHS would get its act together.

I know someone whose child was Joseph
in a nativity play and woke up with chickenpox on the day of the play. They knowingly sent him in to school so he could do the play and they then pretended he became ill straight after the play. 60 kids on stage and all the families in the audience. Loads of them had chickenpox over Christmas.

So yes people can be selfish twats and it’s annoying. I feel for your son, I’m amazed he’s been able to avoid it for so long - even to get to 7 when he had the first dose of the vaccine is quite good going.

I so wanted my daughter to get the chicken pox get it over with as always worried it would interfere with our America holiday as could not take her away if got them before hand. Was always asking if could go to a pox party lol. It's a shame he missed his first few days tho never a good time to get these things. I considered vaccine and would have tho she ended up getting chicken pox anyway. Right to be a tad annoyed tho not like exposing him to some life threatening disease tho I get some kids get it bad.

The child was contagious before the pocks appeared. The damage was already done. The fact that patients are contagious before anyone suspects illness makes outbreaks hard to contain and illustrates why vaccination is a really good idea.

@mathanxiety I know that it’s contagious before the spots appear. The point is that once the spots appear, you KNOW it’s going to spread, so to continue to put your child about is an arsey thing to do. Before the spots appear, you couldn’t possibly know or be expected to keep your kid away. After - a different story.

They were being very unreasonable to knowingly expose other people to their kids illness. It can be very serious and cause miscarriages etc.
however this is a disease for which a readily available safe and effective vaccine is available so you are U to not vaccinate and then complain about him catching the disease. Same the 100s who moan they miss holidays or other important events because their kids catch it. Vaccinate people!

When something is not compulsory or written in law it is a CHOICE.
Therefore it is an individual's right whether to disclose or not. EVERY PERSONS MEDICAL HISTORY IS PERSONAL AND PRIVATE not everyones business. What a ludicrous statement! Our entire NHS works under terms of privacy.
Not everyone is at risk from a virus, the majority of the healthy population can shrug off a virus with simple paracetamol!

How's your son feeling now @littleredbumblebee?

As an adult I've not had chickenpox
No vaccine back in my day.
It's not just children you have to think about taking your post child out and about

Yeah, god forbid you should have to spend money to protect your child!

He is just really frustrated. He is not really ill and just a bit tired which is good

@SlippyYinzer - do you think everyone has £150 lying around spare, to pay for the vaccine? During a cost of living crisis?

Priorities...
And I only saw much later that OP mentioned financial hardship.

How are the people who can't fork out £150 coping with the inevitable 1-2 weeks off work to care for a sick child though?

Do you think that possibility makes it easier for someone to magic up £150, though, @MrsSunshine2b?

I suspect that they are keeping their fingers crossed that their child will not get chickenpox, and if they do, they cobble together a patchwork of help from family and unpaid leave.

The bottom line is that if there isn’t a spare £150 lying around, many, many families will not be able to get the vaccinations.

You realize it isn’t recommended for health reasons? It’s safer to get chickenpox than the vaccine for majority of people . Idiot.

Where are you getting that from? Somebody should tell the rest of the developed world - most of which has been vaccinating against chicken pox as standard for many years. Also they should tell the JCVI who recently recommended adding chicken pox to the standard childhood immunisation program in the UK.

You can if you want have a blood test to check for immunity (I did before TTC as didn’t want to catch chicken pox whilst pregnant).

When I got DC vaccinated the pharmacist said a lot of adults in 30s /40s were having the vaccine.

I'm not talking about "disclosure." I'm talking about a sense of responsibility to society, not doctor - patient privacy or whether your neighbours know you've been vaccinated.

Everyone is at risk of catching a virus like CP that is contagious before you realise you have it. You could sit on a bus beside someone whose spouse is doing chemotherapy, and pass it on. You could send a perfectly healthy looking child to school and she might infect a child whose mother is pregnant.

There are a lot of assumptions and a good deal of privilege behind your statement that the majority of the healthy population can shrug off a virus with paracetamol. Chicken pox can be devastating to certain populations - and you can pass it on long before you reach for that paracetamol.

Oh I didn't know that thanks

Like everyone on here I’m a little confused how he’s got to 11 not having it and you’ve not vaccinated. All my kids got it when they were around 2/3 but if they hadn’t had it before school I would have vaccinated.

Bad timing but it’s out of the way now.

Maybe read the OP’s posts to relieve your confusion?

You presumably don't live in the UK if you are confused about why a child has not been vaccinated before school.

AAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!

Why are people unreasonable for not spending loads of money on a vaccine that the NHS didn't think was necessary until recently.