Chicken pox vaccination.

[Jessiejessiecat]

Hoping to gather thoughts that might help with my decision on giving the chicken pox vaccination as I’m a bit in the dark. We’re in the UK where the vaccine is not part of the routine schedule but we can pay for it privately. I have a 3 year old who has never outwardly shown a case of chicken pox. I feel anxious about how unpleasant it could be for him. Additionally, a close family member is on immunosuppressants for an autoimmune condition and another close family member is also classed as vulnerable.

The only thing putting me off getting the vaccine is not knowing how long the immunity lasts for. I’d hate to think we gave the jab over catching wild chicken pox only to find they caught it later as an adult and it was much worse.

Thanks everyone!

A large proportion of the world routinely vaccinate against chickenpox so I would assume it works pretty well and isn't something to worry about. They don't give boosters which suggests no concerns about how long it lasts.

NHS info says 98% effective in children.
I'd have vaccinated mine if they hadn't already had it by school age.

Would recommend the chickenpox vaccine. Many paediatricians, including myself, would urge for it to become part of the routine childhood vaccination schedule.

My youngest was vaccinated. They’re immune for life.

We’ve vaccinated our toddler. The UK is one of the only countries where it’s not included in the childhood immunisations. If you can afford it, I think you should. We paid £140 at Boots. Our toddler got a slight temperature and a couple of chicken pox sores, and then was fine. I really appreciate knowing he’s protected when I hear
of breakouts. His little friend really suffered with chicken pox, and has scars on his face etc.

It’s a no brainer to me personally

It has been recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisations to add the CP vaccine to the 1yr jab schedule on the NHS some time ago but im not sure when its going to happen. So in case it helps you to make up your kind, potentially everyone could be offered it so presumably they arent worried about it making things worse in adulthood.

www.gov.uk/government/news/jcvi-recommends-chickenpox-vaccine-in-childhood-immunisation-programme

My healthy 3yo nearly died of chickenpox. He got an invasive group a strep infection at the same time, lung filled with fluid pneumonia, horrible operation, got sepsis.

Sitting by his bed in intensive care, I wished I'd vaccinated! He's fine now but we came within a whisker of losing him. I don't understand why we're so cavalier about chickenpox.

Even if your child is only mildly ill (as my older child was) you've got at least a week off work with a cross and itchy child.

We are going to pay for the vaccine this summer as my eight year old hasn’t caught it and it’s worse if they catch it when they’re older. We did the same for my other child at the same age.

I lived in the US when my kids were small and they were both routinely vaccinated. Both adults now and haven’t caught it.

I don’t want the inconvenience of (even more) inevitable unpredicted time off childcare/cancelled plans or holidays so I will be getting my baby vaccinated when he is old enough.

I don’t think there’s any issue with immunity waning. It’s been on the US schedule since 1996 so we have a sizeable group of now adults up to the age of 27 that are not having any issues, including women during pregnancy because at that age many will have had kids by now. Both of mine have had it. At best chickenpox is throughly unpleasant so if you’re lucky enough to be able to afford it then why wouldn’t you get the vaccine?

My Daughter hard 2 chickenpox vaccine when was a baby from Boots cost £300 not sure about now was 6 years ago. They told us when she 18 years will need 1 more just vaccine booster and that it. You should ask the pharmacist because vaccine keeps changing you might need only 1 dose.

Had my older two kids vaccinated when they were 3 and 2. My youngest was booked in but he caught chicken pox a few weeks before his first birthday. It was horrible. It took four months to clear up, and all that time he wasn't sleeping, wasn't eating properly. And because his immune system was busy with the virus he ended up catching every single cold and stomach bug going. I'd opt for the vaccine every time.

Our youngst had the vaccination at 7 yo.
It doesn't cover 100% but the child will be less sick. The doctor said she might need a booster later in life.

The oldest two had chicken pox before the age of 2. Like most of their nursery friends.

I would vaccinate in heartbeat. DTs are 15 now and I just wasn't aware there was a vaccine. One ended up in hospital with suspected sepsis, and the other one had a hideous time too with infected spots. They were both of school for our weeks.

We vaccinated our 3 and 4 years olds recently. They had no side effects whatsoever (and my eldest does usually react to immunisations). I was told it would give them lifelong immunity. One less thing to worry about and worth every penny!

I'd also add that dh had chickenpox as an adult and it's not fun at all!

Check the guideline's on NHS... My daughter (5) was given the jab on the NHS as her grandma takes steroids, making her vulnerable to it, and helps with children.

I have vaccinated all of my children. Have seen children extremely unwell with complications of chickenpox. Thankfully those cases are very very rare but it's really not rare to have to cancel a much needed family holiday, have a miserable week (or sometimes weeks), have to take ages off work, or end up with scarring. Agree it is time for it to go on the routine immunisation schedule. As far as I understand the reason for not doing so is because circulating wild chickenpox reduces the incidence of shingles in older adults - in other words not in the interests of children.

as Someone said up thread it should be added to vaccination schedule in uk. I wonder if potentially the countries that vaccinate are protected when older due to the fact they have very little chicken pox virus circulating. If this is the case then in theory you could be more at risk if protection wains as an adult and you live in a country with lots of the virus circulating. But then if they are adding to the immunisation schedule soon we will eventually reduce the levels of virus circulating here too.

We vaccinated both our children and I am so pleased we did. There are 2 jabs, I don't think the immunisation 'runs out'. It's like the other vaccines.
Tlwheni looked into it, the main reason why it's not offered by NHS is to.so with the risk of shingles in older people.

From a bbc article:
"But the biggest fear has been lingering concerns that chickenpox vaccination might increase the risk of shingles among unvaccinated individuals in later life. This often painful and debilitating condition is also caused by infection with the varicella-zoster virus. Shingles rates are also expected to rise around the world as the population ages.
"The problem with shingles is that it can be severe in some people, resulting in hospital admission," says Pollard. "It can also cause a nasty painful condition that continues in the site of the rash, even when it has healed up, called post-herpetic neuralgia. This costs a lot of money for the NHS to treat as it really affects quality of life, treatments are costly and really don't work so well."
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240229-why-dont-some-countries-vaccinate-against-chickenpox#:~:text=However%2C%20the%20decision%20not%20to,a%20different%20group%3A%20older%20adults.

This reason, although something to consider, wasn't enough to stop us paying privately.

vaccinated - not so much to avoid getting chickenpox as children but to reduce their risk of getting shingles as adults as it’s supposed to be very painful then. No issues with vaccination for mine!

Had the vaccine. DC still caught it. Had all the inconvenience of keeping them at home still, but at least they were completely fine. A v mild case, spots in just one area and no other symptoms, cleared straight up.