Chicken pox vaccine - not effective

[juneau]

In case there is anyone else out there who's child has had the vaccine - I have bad news for you. My DS (who was born in the US), was vaccinated at 12 months, like all other American kids, and this year he has come down with chicken pox. Not only that, but he has the worst case I've ever seen. He has spots all over his body - in his ears, mouth, on the soles of his feet - there isn't one bit of him that isn't covered in them. There is a little girl at his nursery who was born (and vaccinated) in Canada and she also came down with chicken pox a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps the vaccine works well enough when the whole population is vaccinated, but it doesn't appear to work in this country, where each child is bombarded with the virus on a regular basis.

For such a common illness I don't think that it us very well understood. I had chicken pox earlier this year, not a terrible case but enough to make me feel awful. Less than 6 months prior I had been declared immune by blood test having previously had it as a child.

The doctors couldn't explain it.

Hope your DD feels better soon, portion can help with the itching.

Apologies Ds

Any vaccine has a risk of it not taking for some reason. Some vaccines can wear off, for example rubella, hence why they test every pregnancy not just the first. I knew someone who had BCG 6 times before the test showed he was immune.

I don't know whether it might be that the children who get chickenpox twice naturally might be likely to get it again after the vaccine too? Last years's chickenpox seemed to be particularly bad at getting children for the second time. I don't know whether that's a medical likelihood that sometimes it is a variety that is more likely to strike twice, but just from my observations of the numbers round here.