Chickenpox vaccine

[MissMollieO]

Just looking for stories or advice from people who have chosen to give their children the chickenpox vaccine.

My son is 15 months and I have been considering paying to get him the chickenpox vaccine but I know it's not without risks as with any other vaccine.

I know chickenpox generally isn't serious and passed fairly quickly however if I could stop him having to get it and stop potential scarring of the skin I would.

I know in other countries like Australia and USA it's given as a standard childhood immunisation and I know others that have paid privately to have it.

Any stories ?

My two have had it privately and no regrets or side effects. In fact very glad I did. They both scar badly which I wanted to avoid.

We don’t have it as a standard childhood vaccine in the UK basically because having chickenpox circulating in the population is believed to boost adults’ immunity and make shingles less likely. (Also probably due to cost). But there is now a shingles vaccine.

There's loads of threads about this if you search which will give you lots of info both mine had it about 8 years ago and no side effects. I paid privately at my doctors surgery.

All mine have had it. No side effects. They all got chicken pox after outbreaks at school but had extremely mild cases - one spot, mild fever.

I was hospitalised as a child post measles. I caught chicken pox in the hospital and was placed in an isolation cubicle within the hospital. I did not want to risk that kind of thing for my DC.

Mine had it at about 18 months with no regrets. The risks of the vaccine were much lower than the risks of chicken pox, in my view.

My DD has had it. No side effects, and such a relief whenever we get a notification that it's going around nursery or a wee pal has it!

My ds had it at a year as it is private the needle is extra fine and he didn’t even notice it with distraction. No side effects and he is 9 and hasn’t got it even when there has been outbreaks at school.

Very in favour, paid privately to have it done at my GP surgery. I'm self-employed and justified the cost by thinking of the unpaid time I'd have to take off work to look after my kids if they caught chickenpox, which would cost me far more.

No side effects.

I'm thinking of getting it for ours. Eldest is coming up to 7 and hasn't caught it, and I think it gets worse for them the older they are... so I'd rather vaccinate. The cost is a bit of a killer for 4x kids! But thanks to the NHS we really spend very little on medical care compared to if we lived in some other places, so I'm thinking I'll just get it all booked.

Thanks for all positive stories so far.

I was very up for it but a friend of ours works in the medical field and is very knowledgable and said they wouldn't get it for their child so kind of put me off!

But I suppose it's personal choice.

There have been a few similar threads. I got my youngest vaccinated and am so glad - no regrets. I don’t think there are many side effects or cons? Chicken pox, however can be serious and can have many awful side effects. It’s a no brainer from me. Worth every penny.

@MissMollieO

Thanks for all positive stories so far.

I was very up for it but a friend of ours works in the medical field and is very knowledgable and said they wouldn't get it for their child so kind of put me off!

But I suppose it's personal choice.

Most people I know in the medical field have had their children done.

My two were done.

Tbh we costed up how much it would cost to both have to be off work for the isolation period and figured it was worth it.

Also husband hasn't had chickenpox and was on steroid treatment for a while. It would have been very dangerous for him to catch it.

I had chickenpox when my grandmother died and was poorly for a couple of weeks. My brother caught it from me and developed complications. He was really sick. My poor mum, losing her mum and then us both being so poorly.

So glad we did it. Not long after my eldest's first dose there was an outbreak at his nursery. Day 1 3 cases, day 2 16!!! All of those 16 were ill over Christmas. He didn't catch it so the protection from even one dose was really good.

My eldest had his at 13mths, my youngest will be having hers next month after she's had her MMR vaccine.
I see no point in risking their health with something that is preventable.

My DC1 had it with no side effects or issues. I don’t understand why it isn’t a standard vaccine in this country like in most European countries. Like others we couldn’t afford to take weeks off if she got it and didn’t want unnecessary suffering. My friend’s daughter was very ill and she had to take 3 weeks leave (single parent).
I will also pay for DC2 when he is 1.

Roughly 15 years ago my dr advised against the vaccine on the grounds that the protection from it only lasts about 20 years. He said the virus is more dangerous for adults, and people forget to get boosters, so it was preferable to get lifelong immunity from catching chicken pox as a child.

Has anyone heard this ? Any idea how long vaccine immunity lasts ?

@ToffeeCentre Interesting! I found this from the US, where the vaccine is routinely given to all children - this is official US government advice on immunity: www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/varicella/hcp/about-vaccine.html

Seems as though it's more the case that there just haven't been any studies looking at immunity levels longer than 20 years after the vaccine was given, probably because the vaccine only became available in 1995 so it hasn't been around long enough to do them?

Thanks @multicolouredmittens , that's extremely interesting. Not necessarily encouraging though. Sounds as though we'll just have to wait and see if our children are protected in adulthood 😩.

Both my older boys have had theirs x 2. My little girl is having her final jab next month. As a woman scarred by chicken pox. I had it twice. Many countries have it as a routine vaccine anyway.

I am in Canada, where chickenpox vaccination is routine now.

From the reading and research I have done, the science does not support that children getting chickenpox boosts adult immunity and reduces the incidence of shingles. Studies in the US show no increase in shingles in adults after chickenpox vaccination in children became routine.

Regardless, as a parent and grandparent it seems illogical not to vaccinate children, let them get chickenpox, and then face a lifelong risks of shingles themselves. Why would a parent agree to that?

As for shingles vaccines, they are not as effective as one would like. DH was vaccinated but he still had a very painful episode of shingles this past year.

I have an autoimmune condition and unless I stop my medications and let it flare up, I cannot get the shingles vaccine. I had shingles on my eyelid about 16 years ago and it was scary. I was still in my 40s.

Obviously it is your decision but if I had young children now I would not hesitate to have them vaccinated. All four of my grandchildren
are. It makes me feel good to know that hopefully there is no shingles in their future.

Both my dc have had it as it's in the schedule here (Australia) but I would have got it done privately anyway. My DB is pediatric aneasthetist and he has had a number of incredibly ill babies under his care resulting from chickenpox complications.
Breakthrough infections still happen as we have one dose on schedule but two seems to be better at preventing completely. Anecdotally the infections seem to be very mild with very few spots.
Both DC handle immunizations well so I had no concerns on that front either.

My older 3 all had chicken pox when they were 3 or 4, never even thought of getting them a vaccine against it.

We've since moved aboard where the vaccine is done routinely. I'm yet to have our 4 year old twins vaccinated, as kept hoping they'd just catch it but obviously the majority of kids here get the vaccine so no one to catch it from.
I'll be booking them in during their next school holiday in April to get the first dose.