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

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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?

My healthy 4 year old DD ended up in hospital for a week with serious pox complications. I regret not getting her vaccinated. And recoil every time I see someone state that it's unlikely their child will get seriously ill from it. It's a horrible illness and it should be vaccinated against.

My eldest DD caught it when she was only around 9 months old. She wasn't ill at all, only spotty.

For my youngest DD she had got to around 5 years old without catching it. A friend's child then nearly died from chicken pox. Was blue lighted to a major hospital, needed plastic surgery on his face etc. His older sibling has been absolutely fine with it.

We had youngest DD vaccinated about a week later. It wasn't a risk we were prepared to or needed to take.

A friend of mine’s baby died from chickenpox when she was 3m. She developed lesions in her brain as a result of the virus. It’s rare, but worth vaccinating to avoid this scenario. There is also fetal varicella syndrome which can result from a pregnant woman getting chickenpox.

Yes, dh had it as an adult and waa very unwell. Ds had it twice as a child. Ut can cause serious damage, similar to measles.

The first lot of vaccinated kids in the US are 30 years old now so I really don’t think that’s accurate thing to say…
The UK really is behind the times.

That's incorrect.

The vaccine is only 30 years old and those first vaccinated are still immune. They can only state proven effective up to 30 years right now as that's how long it has proven protection for.

When DD was vaccinated 10 years ago it was stated as proven protection for 20 years.

It seems as long as you have the recommended 2 vaccines, the protection is holding up very well.

Vaccinated my two (now aged 13 and nearly 16) having learnt about the vaccination on Mumsnet!

In Australia they one give one dose which is fine because since chicken pix was added to the schedule the chances of catching chicken pox is very, very low.
However I've recently seen advice that if you are travelling to somewhere where chicken pox is rife like Indonesia or the UK you should consider getting a booster shot.

The uk should introduce vaccination shortly. Convinced by 25 years of data in the USA which debunked concerns re adults getting bad disease with waning immunity and worries re shingles.
Good article from bbc

www.bbc.com/future/article/20240229-why-dont-some-countries-vaccinate-against-chickenpox

Yes many have mild disease (not hospitalised) but they're still sick for a week. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2066097/ some get very unwell.
I vaccinated my kids. No regrets.

ep.bmj.com/content/early/2025/02/12/archdischild-2024-327700 another good resource

Many paediatricians (who see the complications) vaccinate their kids pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39121697/ and there's massive health inequity that only wealthy people can give their children this vaccine. I hope the government cracks on and rolls it out.

Does anyone else remember the trial of routine chickenpox vaccination 30 years ago ? We were part of that. And then the authorities determined that long term outcomes were better from catching chickenpox than from being vaccinated against it. I have no idea if the guidance has changed since then, but that's strongly in my mind as a reason you might not want to get the vaccine. If the evidence showed better long term outcomes after vaccination surely it would be included in routine childhood imms? Would mean less cost to the NHS overall ?

Once you've had Chicken Pox, you have the pleasure of having Shingles.

We are in Australia. When I told the GP my kids weren't immunised, he offered to do it there and then. When I said I didn't think they needed it, he spoke to me about some of the complications that can arise and I changed my mind. I did have to pay for it as it was outside of the normal vaccine schedule. However, it is generally given free to children as part of their usual vaccinations.

I work in a primary school and this week we have had the first case of chicken pox that I can remember in the 12 years I have worked there. It just isn't something kids isually catch here.

Chicken pox is so normalised in the UK but so rare where the vaccine is part of routine childhood healthcare.

Oh yes that's a delight. I had chicken pox twice and still ended uo getting shingles!

All the kids I know who have had chicken pox weren't really poorly, I looked into getting DD vaccinated. The advice seemed to be not to bother unless there is a risk to someone else in the household. I haven't decided yet and still intend to research it more.
But me taking time off work won't factor into this, my work is important but DD comes first and if I need a week off so be it.

The problem is once you've had chicken pox you are at life long risk of having shingles.
The UK cost benefit decided that it was better for older people to keep being exposed to chicken pox in society via infected children as it would decrease the older people risk of shingles. Seemingly ignoring that those children would then be doomed to the risk of shingles later in life in order to provide that protection to the adults.
However in countries that did start vaccination 30 odd years ago they've found no increased rates of shingles at all - so the repeated exposure theory looked to not hold up at all. And the chances of shingles after vaccination is way, way less than after infection so the UK have changed their stance and are planning on adding it to the schedule.

That's because you can only have shingles once you've had shingles

I had my 15 month old vaccinated last week (£75 per dose at local independent pharmacy). Had to wait until she was free from the once a week new bug from nursery, otherwise would have done it a bit sooner. I've had so much time off work to look after her from the nursery bugs, that this was a no brainer for me. Obviously didn't want her to suffer either!

My 8 year old had the vaccine when younger and has so far dodged it when it's gone through the class.

The pharmacist was very pro chicken pox vaccine, telling me she tells all her friends to get their kids vaccinated.

My dd has suffered after all the other routine jabs, but was fine after this one.

Yes this was my interpretation of the NHS's recent stance. I wasn't willing to let my kids he the buffer for others at the detriment to their wellbeing.

Would agree with with - both of mine breezed the chicken pox vaccine (my youngest didn't even cry during the actual vaccine!) compared to other standard vaccinations. No temps or grumpiness after.

I didn't know there was a chicken pox vaccine available in the UK so my 2 were unvaccinated and suffered terribly with chicken pox and both dc also left with awful scars as i was myself in childhood. still hate my visible facial scars to this day. I wish I'd known there was a vaccine available for my dc. The same with the HPV vaccine, I only found out not too long ago at age 46 that adults could pay for and have the hpv vaccine up to age 45 I'm now 46 so too old! I wish they'd make us more aware of these options.

Oh yes, but I thought I was unlucky enough to get Chicken Pox twice, I had more than my fair share!

Haha fair enough, the virus just loves you apparently 😂

No that's not why it wasn't added to the schedule. It was found to be not cost effective because it would increase the risk of shingles in adults:

This is because, if chickenpox in children disappears as a result of a vaccine programme, adults would no longer have their immunity boosted by exposure to their chickenpox-suffering children and grandchildren and would be more likely to get shingles. Put simply, the conclusion of the previous review was that it would not be cost-effective for the NHS to immunise children against chickenpox.

Remarkably short term thinking, given that the children would then in turn be at risk of shingles as adults after being used as human shields, and the whole repeated exposure as protection against shingles thing has since disproven anyway.

I'm against all vaccines anyway but there's not a chance I'd be vaccinating against something as minor as chickenpox.

And I think making a health decision for your child based on the fact that you don't want to take time off work is diabolical.

If you live in a country where children are routinely vaccinated, it's better to vaccinate because you are unlikely to catch it as an adult through contact with children.

If you live in a country where most children are not vaccinated, it's better on average to acquire the immunity through infection than vaccination, because the vaccine will wear off, leaving you vulnerable to infection as it circulates among children.

It's not true that most other countries vaccinate. I live in another EU country and my kids have all their compulsory vaccines plus some extras that we paid for, but the chicken pox is not routinely recommended. However, a friend's son didn't catch it as a child but was offered the vaccine as a teenager because of the increased risks if HF caught it when he was older.