Chicken pox vaccine

[wanilamorty]

Any thoughts or experiences with the chicken pox vaccine? I'm about to book it for DD (13 months), but having a sudden wobble - not sure why! Has anyone here done it? Anyone choose not to and why? Any and all thoughts/experiences would be really appreciated!

I'm thinking of getting it for my 2 boys (2.5yo and 4 month old). I did look into it for ds1 when I was pregnant with ds2 but I never got round to it. My friend's son just had chickenpox and she said it was awful so I may do it this summer if they haven't had it by then.

I have been mulling this albeit DS is only 6 months so I have a while to keep mulling. Part of me thinks that there's no reason not to vaccinate in the same way that I will vaccinate against MMR etc but I am concerned that, if DS catches it later in life, it could be a lot more serious.

My son had it done at 2. It was fine. It's 2 separate injections.

Yep it's fab.

We had it done for DS at about 16 months. No issues whatsoever, and pleased we had it done, as there was a chickenpox outbreak at nursery several months later!

My DD has had it. Most kids in western countries outside of the UK have it because it’s part of the standard vaccination schedule. Even in mild cases chickenpox is really unpleasant, if you can afford to get it done privately then why wouldn’t you?

I'd do it, mine contracted chicken pox before I got around to it!

Finally got around to it when DD1 was 3.5 yo. All fine. DD2 will be 1 this year and I will get her done too.

I was going to once DC2 had got the MMR out of the way but DC1 brought chickenpox home from school instead - we actually had to cancel the MMR appointment because he had Chickenpox!

DC1 didn't feel ill at all with the chickenpox, just bored out of her mind. Didn't need cream or Calpol or anything!

DC2 had a lot more drama - temp not coming down with Calpol and wheeze/crackles in lungs but managed to avoid admissions. Would definitely have vaccinated DC1 before DC2 was born in hindsight!

Part of me thinks that there's no reason not to vaccinate in the same way that I will vaccinate against MMR etc but I am concerned that, if DS catches it later in life, it could be a lot more serious.

Why? If he gets exposed to it as a child post vaccination that'll just act as a booster and his immunity later in life will be just as good as if he had got the full on disease as a child surely? (Help me out here immunologist types!)

It was a no-brainer for us. Chicken pox is mild ... until it isn't. It's also generally unpleasant and even fairly mild cases can cause some scarring. I'm happy to pay £80 or whatever it is for my DD to avoid it entirely.

Full vaccination done when dc2 was 18 months. Reason why? DC1 nearly died from chickenpox 12 years ago when was only 2. Got acute cellulitis and in hospital, nearly lost his leg, then nearly lost dc1.
It is now the only illness i have an irrational fear about - i know the same won't happen to dc2, but paid for vaccine just in case.

my son 5 years is just recovering from seriously chicken pox. We discovered the spots on Saturday last week and within few days he was covered everywhere and since then we haven’t had any good night sleep. So if you are thinking of the vaccine please do it and I wish I could vaccinated my son. My poor boy is covered in dry spots and not sure how long it will take for the scars to disappear

Yes, both my kids are vaccinated. My brother lives in the states and it's routine there which made me feel confident in my decision. As a pp said, chicken pox is no big deal until it is.

My sister works in a children's hospital and said the reason it's not part of the vaccination schedule is because it only badly affects a very small proportion of kids but some kids do die from chicken pox.

DS has it done age 1. No problems at all. I would do it sooner rather than later. They're easier to vaccinate when they're little!

My two are vaccinated as it’s on the normal vaccination schedule in the country we are in now. I would otherwise happily pay for it to spare them the itchy misery and risk of side-effects. The NHS doesn’t do it as it will increase shingles in older people as there will be less wild chickenpox about but I don’t see why children should suffer as there is now also a shingles vaccine.
The only thing you must do is impress upon your adult kids the importance of keeping up with their boosters once they take over responsibility for their own medical stuff, as catching it as an adult is worse.

I got my son vaccinated, no problems with it at all. Chicken pox has now gone round all his friends at two different nurseries and school, so it's very likely that he would have had it if he hadn't been vaccinated.

Several other parents told me that if they'd known how awful the illness would be they'd have chosen to vaccinate. One child was hospitalised.

Yes, had lo vaccinated at about 3 after seeing my friends lo's suffer with chickenpox. He was fine after the injections and there was recently a bout of chicken pox in his class and it was a relief knowing we didn't have to worry about him getting it. Money well spent as far as I'm concerned.

I know a child who was severely brain damaged and subsequently died after having chicken pox...do it OP!!

I had my 3 kids vaccinated but the youngest (18m/o) reacted to it - covered in hives and we had antihistamines for 3 months to calm them. He's fine now but wasn't allowed the 2nd dose.

Apparently it's a very rare side effect (1/10,000) and even the pharmacist wasn't aware of it initially. Was very concerning at the time but on balance and given the vast majority don't get side effects, I think it's a good idea to have it

**pharmacist who administered vaccine

My second child had vaccine but only one dose. He has been exposed to chickenpox many times since. He possibly had it mildly [couple of spots] but not entirely sure. I understand that exposure after vaccination just boosts immunity.

This is something ive been considering for my DS he is almost 11 and hasnt had them. Unless of course he has had them and only had a few not very obvious pox's..

I would have had my twins vaccinated, but they contracted the pox before I'd managed to arrange the appointment.

Booked this with GP. Had call today that vaccine had been delivered. Will get done next week.

The only reason they don't offer in UK is for benefit of the older folk,who get an immune boost from being exposed to the virus periodically.