Chicken pox vaccine and meningitis vaccine

[ScissorBow]

I have 2 DDs 4 and 2 who have never had chicken pox. Youngest just slid into the recent meningitis vaccine catch up cohort but DD4 hasn't.

I'm not going to lie I've not done it before because I couldn't afford to but now I'm thinking I can't afford NOT to IYSWIM? I can't think of anything more important to spend the money on if it's the right thing for them.

My questions re the chicken pox vaccine are

1. how long does it last?
2. might it wear off before they get pregnant? That's my biggest concern is something I do 'for the best' now ends up hurting them or their unborn child in future
3. are there any side effects?

Meningitis one

1. apart from cost is there any reason why not?

Really appreciate any advice.

I don't know the exact reasoning behind introducing chicken pox vaccine in other parts of the world, maybe they assumed immunity would be lifelong and they took a gamble that they could essentially eradicate the disease, or maybe it never occurred to anyone that it might wear off and cause problems. I do know that Mumps was introduced decades ago because it was assumed that the vaccine would provide life long protection (or close to it) and they could Therefore virtually eradicate the disease. Unfortunately, the MMR was nowhere near as effective as was hoped, a booster dose was added to the schedule and still there are breakouts of disease in young adults which are much more problematic. They can't remove it from the schedule now though because it has reduced the circulating disease to such a level that large numbers wouldn't catch it in childhood when it's relatively safe, and most likely people of the MMR generation will have to play catch up with boosters for most of their lives or risk catching the disease.

I do know that the JCVI has discussed adding the chicken box vaccine to the schedule at length and has so far decided it isn't worth it. I would hope that they are taking such target group shifting into account and learning from past experiences.

Another problem is that they added the varicella vaccine onto the mmr to make MMRV. It hard enough getting people to believe mmr is ok without adding in an extra vaccine with it. They might expect people to avoid giving it again and herd immunity would drop

Below is a link to the JCVI sub-committee minutes from Dec 2016 (the latest available) where they discuss the various issues with Varicella vaccine. There are still concerns that natural boosting from circulating virus is important in preventing shingles, and there is a lot of discussion about whether a one dose schedule, which wouldn't remove the virus altogether but might reduce the severity of chicken pox, is better (some countries have implemented a one-dose system, as shown in the link below).

Other concerns are whether parents would accept the MMRV vaccine (or a separate single injection) and that this might have knock on effects for uptake of other, more important vaccines, and that there is an increased risk of seizures when MMRV is given along side Bexsero (Men B - I don't think any other countries have decided to add this one routinely). They are reluctant to add additional appointments, even though this would lower the risk of side effects and may be more acceptable to parents, because of higher administration costs and the risk that parents might 'forget' to get all the boosters.

app.box.com/s/vdlafy8wm4t5asq2qyfpc4dw6fzeyypf/file/149452131815

Y0uCann0t thank you. I'm a researcher so that link is right up my street to help me make my decision thank you.

Bugger. Link has been removed?

Found it!