Chicken pox vaccine

[Liff]

Hi there

Has anyone had their children vaccinated (privately) for Chicken Pox? A couple of friend's have mentioned that they are thinking about it but I just don't know very much about it. There were such horror stories last year about really nasty experiences with it (my DS had it when he was 2 but very mildly) and I don't want my DD to go through it if I can help it (she's now 2).

Any knowledge/experiences would be gratefully received.

Thanks

DD has CP at the moment and is in fine fettle except for being spotty and itchy. If your DS had it mildly why would you go with the scare stories and not your own experience?

I wouldn't have vaccinated dd against it, can't see the point.

I'm with Gwendoline. Of course you'll hear bad stories - because no one bothers to talk about the normal ones. :) I think cp has a mortality rate of something like 0.02%. The problem with vaccinating now is that it will wear off in adulthood (no knowing exactly when) and chickenpox is more likely to be serious in adulthood. Also, the vaccine may not work and all this 'oh but at least they'll get it milder' isn't necessarily true - you may have a mild case with or without the vaccine. I think people are getting a bit too obsessed with vaccines and want one for everything! We do have our own immune systems! :)

Both dds were vaccinated as it is part of the standard vaccs given here. DD2 got a very very mid case of it 5 mths after the vaccination. I got shingles and she got it from that. SHe had a slight temp and spots - they lasted 72 hrs. I had 2 docs confirm it was chicken pox .... 1 when it happened as I had no idea what it was and then another the day before we were due to fly.

Rosa, they let you fly with chickenpox?

Yes, dd was privately vaccinated, no problems at all. She will have her booster later this year.

Oh no - we went to check that it was ok that we could fly. The spots had turned in to tiny red dots - she had none on any exposed bits . The pox never actually broke out into blisters hence it being very mild. We had taken pics of it and the second doc agreed looking at the pics that it was chicken pox.
I was ready to delay if needed but we needed a docs confirmation if that was the case for the insurance however he said she was ok and would not infect anybody.

:) sorry!

I didn't realise that you could have cp if the spots didn't crust over. Both DSs have had a few spots that we thought were going to be cp but they didn't scab so we thought it must have been something else. Would be good if that was it! :)

DD had the vaccination when she was about 18 months old. I hadn't realised she would need a booster.

kreecher, she'll need boosters for life. I think it's estimated to last about 10 years. She'll need to be especially aware of it in adulthood because CP can be more serious then and when she starts trying to get pregnant because it can be very dangerous for the baby.

So after all that she got chicken pox last week - couple of tricky days and nights but actually as mild as my son had it - phew!!