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?

@EmeraldShamrock000 but chicken pox is very well known to be harmful and is also a very prevalent virus. Your nonchalance shocks me I have to say. Mine got it naturally, but I would have sorted out a vaccine if they hadn't got it by a certain age.

I am in England, it's not part of our childhood immunisations, when I looked into my GP put me off saying the immunity from the immunization
wears off by adulthood so they can then catch it as an adult which is more dangerous especially if pregnant

@ThejoyofNC you do that every time you leave the house. Hmm, I don't worry about my DDs catching measles when they leave the house. Because they've been vaccinated.

Your nonchalance shocks me I have to say. Mine got it naturally,

I think it's an Irish thing, home remedies and good rest fix most issues.

GP visits are very expensive, medication is expensive, health insurance supplement is only offered in high paying jobs, private health insurance costs 1000's.

Thank goodness Google exists.

@ThejoyofNC I've got some pretty horrific pictures of my 4 year old DD in hospital with chicken pox. A doctor said to me at the time that she despairs of the urban myth that chicken pox is just a mild illness and a rite of passage.

It's going to be implemented soon into the childhood schedule and combined with the MMR vaccine. Possibly later this year, almost certainly within the next two.
There is no word yet on whether there will be a catch up programme but big changes ahead.
Practice nurse.

Key reason why mine are vaccinated. I am self employed and a day off will cost me more than the vaccine, let alone 2 weeks.

Same, it was never even raised as an option when mine were smaller, and I didn't know you could vaccinate against it.

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

If you're exposed to the wild type virus after having been vaccinated, why wouldn't it just act as a booster then?

But you cant get shingles if you haven't had chickenpox...it is a reactivation of the same virus that caused chickenpox. To get it, you need to have had exposure to earlier in life. So a UK vaccine for kids is a good thing long term.

For us it was cost, I was a student and my partner had a minimum wage job so we genuinely couldn't afford it. Then they all got it anyway, thankfully were not too unwell with it. If I could have afforded it I would have done so. Ive not long paid for my eldest to get vaccinated against men B before uni and that was an eye watering £220 (yes it is worth the peace of mind).

I have 3 kids and recently spent 6 weeks with them all having it one by one. I’ve never been in a position to be able to afford to get them all vaccinated but certainly would advocate it if you can. Luckily I work opposite my husband so don’t have any issues with having to take time off etc. Fortunately they were all fairly mild cases, one I wouldn’t have known he was ill, the worst was my 8 month old but that was mainly one rough day/night. I do hope they add the vaccine to the usual childhood ones as it potentially can be so nasty.

A doctor said to me at the time that she despairs of the urban myth that chicken pox is just a mild illness and a rite of passage

The NHS and HSE websites both state is a mild common illness, not a rite of passage.

It is mild for many children, there is always some children impacted by a virus more severely.

I am pro-vaccine for most jabs, when the benefits outweigh the risk.

As many others have said, this is bullshit.

My toddler is immunocompromised and cannot have the vaccine, however I would do so in a heartbeat if we could. Please vaccinate to protect those who can’t!

You're completely correct. Having seen some nasty complications in children, I have had all of mine immunised.

It isn't true that immunity doesn't last as long as that which results from infection. This was a theoretical concern which hasn't borne out.

Another huge benefit rarely discussed is that chickenpox immunisation does not cause shingles, so immunised children will not suffer from shingles in their adult lives.

There are two reasons it hasn't been included in the routine schedule:

• Cost savings
• Because exposure of adults to wild chickenpox circulating among children, increases the adults' immunity to shingles from their own latent chickenpox

Neither of those reasons is centering the child. It's in a child's best interests to be immunised against chickenpox (providing they are immunocompetent to receive the immunisation safely of course).

Increasingly, shingles in the elderly is now being prevented by administering the chickenpox immunisation to this population. Perhaps this is why the JCVI are now bringing chickenpox into the routine childhood immunisation schedule. Better to immunise children once and not deal with all the complications of chickenpox and shingles, then to have to repeatedly immunise them in later life.

For anyone interested, the recommendation by the JCVI to include chickenpox in the routine childhood immunisation schedule:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-varicella-vaccination-programme-jcvi-advice-14-november-2023/jcvi-statement-on-a-childhood-varicella-chickenpox-vaccination-programme

The UK has been behind on this, glad we are catching up.

You do know it has a shelf life and you need to redo it in 10 years. It's not fool proof!

This is completely untrue.

I wish they vaccinated in the uk. My son had it at 8 weeks old. It was horrific. He has some awful scars and I still have some awful memories of it now 20 years on.

If I have grandchildren I will pay for them to have the vaccination of their parents want me to.

because it’s not routinely offered in the UK most people don’t even know a vaccine exists. I imagine the cost of the vaccine would be off putting.

I can’t afford the vaccine. I keep hoping my kids get chicken pox so they don’t get it as adults when it is much more severe.

It is indeed!

It is included now