To think it's bonkers to not vaccinate against chicken pox

[Springadorable]

Especially if you have multiple kids who haven't had it who would probably get it back to back meaning potentially 2-3 weeks off work for parents while waiting for them to scab over.

Genuinely curious as to why people don't vaccinate. It is more expensive to have the time off work than to vaccinate and it's a nasty uncomfortable avoidable illness for kids and a standard vaccine for a lot of the rest of the world. So if you haven't, why not?

I’m not anti vax, but I think most people would agree that autism rates are rising. From what i remember when reading up on it, it was first detected around the San Francisco area in the 80s and since then has become more widespread across the globe. I don’t blame people for worrying about vaccines when medical science claims to be utterly baffled.

The nurse at my GP surgery said the NHS plan to roll it out but haven't decided when they will.

It's a "recent" vaccine so lifelong immunity can't be proven/disproven until millenials are old.

Both of my twins ended up hospitalised with infected chicken pox and one had sepsis. This was 12 years ago. I had no idea there was a vaccine. I would advise anyone to vaccinate their kids but until it comes into the NHS schedule there is a cost implication that many can't afford.

Both mine have had it now but to echo other PPs I didn't even know there was a vaccine

Of course you don't, but that is literally the point. If money is tight, and it's generally accepted that young kids catch chicken pox, then it's more affordable to pay for it (on a credit card if needed) than to have it hit when you need to work.

@Happyinarcon are there more people with autism, or are diagnosis rates rising?

Because previously people with autism would just have had huge disadvantages in life. Now it is recognised, and diagnosed, rather than people being banished to the outskirts of society. When you look at the numbers that means it looks like there is more autism, but it's just that more people are getting the help they need.

Same here.
I only discovered a vaccine existed after my sister emigrated to Oz.

DC1 - Had a v nasty bout of CP, thankfully no complications but horrible nonetheless, you could barely put a pin between them. She still has some scars. I didn't know about the vaccine. Shortly afterwards ☹️ I found out from some NZ friends.

DC2 - vaccinated as a priority.

This does seem to be the most common answer. I can't remember how I found out, but when I did I jumped at getting mine vaccinated. For anyone who isn't aware, the lower age limit has been lowered to nine months now (we went to Superdrug) rather than a year. In case it helps anyone.

Getting CP as a child does not give life-long immunity.
The virus stays in the body & can result in very nasty, painful Shingles.
Ask me how I know.

We vaccinated our eldest because we were getting married not long after she started school. We didn’t want her spotty and uncomfortable for that.

We hadn’t got round to getting it for DD2 and it did the rounds at her pre-school just before Christmas. She faired quite well with it after a couple of days with a high temperature. DS (10mo) had his spots show up just after Christmas and they were worse than DD’s. He was very uncomfortable with them and we needed to put socks on his hands to stop him scratching, poor thing.

DD1 didn’t catch it at all so I’d say the vaccine is still working 6 years later.

This is old and outdated advice.

OK. Well my eldest child is 10 now, so 🤷‍♀️ that was the advice before he had CP. It's not realistic to expect everyone to be on top of advice changing all the time.

Chicken pox isn't part of standard immunisations in Europe for several reasons. Firstly, vaccination is less effective than actually going through the disease (please note that this doesn't necessarily apply to other viral infections, this is ONLY about chicken pox). So someone who was vaccinated as a child is still vulnerable to infection as an adult, at which point it could potentially be a lot more serious.
Secondly, for children, at least, serious complications from chicken pox are very rare. No comparison with measles, for example. Or mumps, which causes sterilisation in boys. Or rubella (German measles) which causes severe developmental delays on the foetus if the mother catches it. Hence why MMR is so important - but chicken pox isn't included in that.

Sure, it's still working 6 years later, but she'll be much more vulnerable than her siblings in 20, 30 years time.

We hadn’t got round to getting it for DD2 and it did the rounds at her pre-school just before Christmas. She faired quite well with it after a couple of days with a high temperature. DS (10mo) had his spots show up just after Christmas and they were worse than DD’s. He was very uncomfortable with them and we needed to put socks on his hands to stop him scratching, poor thing.

Yes, I believe it's common for a sibling to get it worse because they would have been exposed to more of the virus. I am not sure if that's the right terminology 🤔 but it fared true for my children and other children I know too.

My child has had every vaccine offered by the NHS.

I've had more COVID and flu vaccines than I can count.

My child has over a hundred scars after a particularly vicious bout of chicken pox over a decade ago. I didn't know there was a chicken pox vaccine.

It's part of the routine schedule of vaccines here in Ireland now.

It doesn’t provide as much immunity as catching it.

Presumably at that point she could do a blood test to check immunity and revaccinate if needed though?

@Whalesong you are spot on.
If you are unsure about having antibodies, there is a blood test that your GP can do. Especially if you are in an at risk group.

That's not true.

@Springadorable - snap!

It’s been around since 1996 in the US so the first babies to get it are turning 30 this year and it seems like immunity is holding up just fine!