Chicken Pox Jab?

[Pleasenomorecheese]

I’m weighing up if I should get this for my 4 year old DD. Done a lot of reading about it-but don’t personally know anyone who’s had it. Any experience?

My 2 have both had it. Chicken pox went through my eldest's class and he didn't catch it. Don't think the youngest has come into contact with it yet.

No children, but I had the vaccine myself last year. I had it at Boots and paid £140 for both vaccines. For me there were no side effects at all and while I’m not aware that I’ve come into contact with chickenpox since the vaccine, it’s worth it for the peace of mind.

Most western countries routinely vaccinate for chickenpox. The only reason why is wasn't added to the NHS schedule is cost, fears of alienating vaccine sceptic parents by adding varicella to the MMR and concern that by reducing chickenpox rates shingles would worsen in elderly populations (which hasn't borne out in date from countries who do routinely vaccinate).

My first dd had chicken pox and she was fine. My second dd had it so badly she couldn't eat for days and still has scars all over her face (she's 8 now and had it when she was 1). We had our third vaccinated and she's never had it. I wouldn't hesitate to have my kids vaccinated and I wish I'd done both the older ones before they caught it.

Pretty much every other European country (and Australia and the US) vaccinates children against chicken pox. I believe the only reason we don't in the UK is because of the cost.

My two (now aged 8 & 5) have both had it. The eldest because he was born in Australia where it's given as part of the routine vaccination schedule, then decided to get youngest done privately here. Both have had chickenpox go through their classes more than once & they haven't caught it. No side effects of the jabs that we noticed.

DD had it and still got it. I got CP twice in childhood so maybe that's just who we are.

No reaction to it though so no harm done.

Thanks. This confirms what I was reading. Will be booking an appointment. If only there was a vaccine for norovirus too!

Following

My two have both had it. Why roll the dice with your kids health if you don't need to? Personally couldn't see any real downsides to them having it (other than cost).

I wish I had. Dd2 was very bad with it

I had chicken pox when I was 12 and it was absolutely horrible. Felt terribly unwell for weeks, painful rash that left some scars. It was not just a mild childhood illness for me.

Had no reservations about vaccinating my son. No side effects and he never came down with cp despite being exposed.

I got my DS vaccinated when he was 1.5years old- we had a holiday booked and did not want to risk missing it, as many children in our town had caught chickenpox just recently. He had no side effects whatsoever.

While majority of children who catch chickenpox recover pretty quickly, there are some who don't- one of my DS's friend was very poorly and ended up in a hospital last year due to chickenpox and one of my friend's DC is pretty badly scarred.

Relative who’s a paediatric doctor has vaccinated her DC and said getting their kids the chickenpox vaccine is the one piece of advice she would give to other parents if she could.

Although chickenpox is usually mild it can be serious and cause complications, for example chickenpox is a common factor in serious cases of strep A leading to sepsis/ organ failure as it gives a route for the bacteria to get into the body.

If I ever have kids I would 100% be getting them vaccinated based on the information she’s shared.

My two - 7 and 2 - have just recently had their second dose in the last few weeks, £140 each child from Boots for the full course, so it was expensive but I saved for it and feel that if they did get the chicken pox I’d probably be anything to make them better! You can collect boots points too so takes the sting out a little! No side affects thankfully. I especially wanted my older child to get it as apparently chicken pox symptoms and duration worse the older they get.

Paid for mine to have it, kids die from chicken pox every year in the UK. Other countries routinely vaccinate for it, I think it's crazy we don't. Even without the risk of death some of the symptoms and side effects can be awful.

Had CP when I was 7 or 8, was really sick with it. My 2 older dcs had it naturally at 4 and weren't too bad, but dd hadn't had it by 6yo so got her vaccinated. No issues, would do it again.

^^This.

I had DD vaccinated at 3 because at the time we had a family member who was having a bone marrow transplant (transplant patients can’t otherwise be around small children as they are particularly vulnerable to varicella).

No side effects, it cost about £120 for both shots, and DD has never had a sign of chickenpox.

My sister says she wished she’d had her children vaccinated in retrospect, because they both had a miserable time with very bad cases indeed.

I vaccinated mine, did a lot of reading first and very happy with the decision to vaccinate.

People who have been vaccinated, as opposed to getting it naturally, also tend to get shingles less/more mildly if they get that later on too. So that's another reason to vaccinate.

My youngest has been vaccinated against it. No side effects and avoided it when it went through the class. My eldest had already had it (albeit very mildly) so he has not been vaccinated

I live in a country where it is standard, as it is in most developed countries. We don't have more shingles in the elderly than the UK, and even if it did, it's not ethical to expect kids to get sick in order to act as viral vectors for others; elderly people should get the shingles vaccine if they are worried.

The UK does not vax against CP because of the Wakefield scandal; the NHS was ready to roll out MMRV (MMR plus chickenpox), then Wakefield happened, MMR rates tanked, and the NHS decided it was too risky to add another element to the MMR, and separate chickenpox vaccines were turned down on the grounds of cost.

I would get the vaccine. I know one person here who forgot to vax her kid, and her son has noticeable chickenpox pock marks on his face; it's not great. You are taking a risk with their skin as it is hard to know if they will have a bad case or not.

(sorry, I should clarify: the NHS decided it was risky to add another element to MMR because it might spook parents who were already nervous about MMR and cause uptake rates to fall further. I don't mean it was considered medically risky to add chickenpox to MMR)

Mine are both vaccinated.
As well as considering the health issues, a friend has chickenpox scars across the face, which has had a big self-esteem impact.

Mine has had the vaccine. No side effects, all very straight forward. Only potential downside I came across when researching it was that immunity in adulthood might be lower than if they caught it naturally. Worth the risk for me. I'll encourage them to have a blood test when they're older to check if they need a booster then.

There no reason not to and so many reasons that it's a good idea

Thanks for the excellent responses. We got the jab today.