Chickenpox vaccine

[Spainintherain]

Has anyone given their children the chicken pox vaccine? I hav heard of two mums lately who have done so and was wondering if many people do.

No I didn't. Immunity wears off at the critical moment when the child is thinking about having children of their own etc or they become a risk to others.

@mumofthregirls just wondering if you had a link to support this? Not suggesting you're wrong but just out of interest

I wasn't, and had it as an adult. Quite tiresome.

BIL had CP as an adult and my Mum as a teenager and they were incredibly ill with it. DS hasn't had it yet, if he doesn't by the time he's 12 we're getting him vaccinated.

We had it done for both boys as I'm immunosuppressed and not immune to CP (I can't have the jab because of this)
My fab HV with DS1 told me to get it done as a) if they got it they pose a big risk to me (hospitalisation) and b) I can't be in the house or look after them if they got it.
I had it on the NHS because of this as it's not normally available but it was still quite hard to organise, I had to take prescriptions to pharmacy and pick up injections and take them to the GP.
GP wasn't sure what they were prescribing at first or when so had to do a bit of research as she'd never done it before.
Both boys were fine and no side effects from either dose (they had the 2 dose one)
It doesn't guarantee immunity but both have been through several school/nursery outbreaks and so far have come through ok.

My 7 year old had the vaccine privately . 2 doses, no side effects .

The issues with shingles and older people were a theoretical risk but studies of vaccinated populations (US & Canada I think) where it's been widely used for a long period of time are showing that the actual risk seems to be much lower
There are some links in this article https://www.theguardian.com/science/occams-corner/2014/may/15/real-reason-british-public-chickenpox-vaccine-shingles?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

@ItIsAllChange all my children have had the vaccines offered by the NHS plus a few additional ones privately. I am one of the unlucky ones where the MMR vaccine did not provide me with immunity, only discovered whilst I was pregnant. No one within the family or friends have had any problems with catching chickenpox and therefore we allowed our children to catch it to enable them life long protection against it - something less for them to worry about when they are older. In theory it would be all well and good if children did have boosters but in practice I wonder how many children just have one vaccine against it and then it's forgotten about. I have no issue with those who choose to get the vaccine but for us it was the right decision not to do so.

@coffeeforone there have been several research journal articles that I have read over the years, I don't have the links to them.

@ItIsAllChange - you've slightly misunderstood the article. There is an increased risk of shingles, but only for those who are unvaccinated. So the introduction of the vaccine, may increased the incidence of shingles in older unvaccinated adults.

OP I had my daughter vaccinated as DS2 was hospitalised when he contracted chicken pox as a baby. Unfortunately, she'd only had one dose and managed to contract it before her second!

I got my DC4 vaccinated after my eldest 3 all had it within a month and it was an awful month and miserable for them.

Hi, i just want to correct one or two things on here (I study immunology and an active research scientist). The link to a chickenpox vaccine increasing the risk of shingles is pretty weak. In the US they've seen the number of cases fall for a number of years and had the vaccine on two dose since 2006. In Germany, they've not seen a rise in shingles and again they have a vaccination programme that includes the chickenpox vaccine. Additionally, people over a certain age can get a shingles vaccine for free here.

There is no evidence of the vaccine wearing off. Again data from the US going back to the 1990's when they introduced the once dose programme show that immunity is still going strong, up in the 90%'s after 20 years. People can get a boost if they like, but if chickenpox is in the wild, they will just boost immunity by being exposed. If we vaccinate all kids, then well it's not in the wild so not needed.

I have personally vaccinated my DS. Mainly because i saw a friend's DS end up in hospital due to infections of the scabs. I've even heard of some children dying from it after doing research into it. Although the disease is mild for most, when it isn't it can be very serious. I'm not taking that risk, and why let my DS be ill for a week anyway?

Problem is if we all vaccinate privately, those who don't may catch the disease later in life as they've not been exposed to it and it's not circulating in the wild. This can be more serious. So i hope they introduce a vaccine on the child immunisation schedule soon. But if you're looking after number 1, i'd do it.

Thanks. I was ready to vaccinate my 3yo and hit a letter saying we have to send her for her 3yr old vaccinations in a couple of weeks so I need to find out how long after she can have another jab - she will prob be hysterical after this one !