Chickenpox vaccine for 5yo?

[SnowBall86]

I’m in two minds. There’s an outbreak of chickenpox in my 5yo’s school. I have a newborn at home. So I really really don’t want her to catch chickenpox. Now, l can vaccinate my older child but he may be contagious as the vaccine is live virus. He may also have been incubating chickenpox for a while then there’s no need to vaccinate him at all. What do I do? Just leave it for now or vaccinate him ?

Its 2 separate vaccinations, 4-8 weeks apart, to be fully vaccinated. Although some children develop immunity after one injection, it will still take a couple of weeks for immunity to kick in so she may well catch it in this time. The surgery often have to order them in too which can take a week or two. It seems likely they will have broken up by the time she’s immune.

Maybe book a telephone consultation with the practice nurse to discuss it to help you decide?

Thank you for your reply! That’s exactly my thoughts… I can do the vaccine privately and they do have it in nearby pharmacy ready now. I just don’t want to put my older son through things he doesn’t need at the moment or potentially endanger my newborn. Speaking with midwife didn’t really get me anywhere as they say I can vaccinate if I want to and that my newborn will just get chickenpox in the worst case scenario… oh well…