Chicken pox

[Anne8888]

There has been a confirmed case of chicken pox at school and we are due to go on holiday in 10 days, what are the chances of my child getting it? It’s not someone that he plays with often but they are obviously mixing all day. I’m just worried about being stranded abroad in my hotel room 😩
I would obviously rather him get it young as I got it when I was 12 and it was awful, however now is not the right time if it can be avoided!

You can get the vaccine up to three days after exposure - costs £75. Boots and Superdrug do them.

@OtterMummy2024 i think the child came out in spots on Wednesday which means he was probably contagious from Monday so I’m not sure if it would be too late. I actually tried to call boots but they have no apps today

I guess it depends on your perspective and whether you have £75 to spare (I appreciate not everyone does!).

IF your child has been exposed, there's nothing you can do to stop them getting sick EXCEPT get a chickenpox vaccine ASAP. If they get chickenpox anyway, it won't be worse if they have been vaccinated and it might be milder.

Equally you take a punt on your holiday being spotty and spend the £75 on things to cheer your DC up if they catch it, or on a nice meal if you get away with it (which you might! It's not guaranteed your LO will catch it).

I got my LO vaccinated because I remember being itchy and miserable with chicken pox as a toddler myself. Will pay for the second dose to give long term protection later in the year.

Slight tangent I’ve never understood why chicken pox vaccine isn’t offered with all the others.

It is going to be rolled out on the NHS in England.

It will be soon with the mmr at 12 months old.

I wish it had been available when mine was younger but we paid at 14 months anyway to get it done. My eldest (vaccine was not available then even privately) had it so bad she was nearly hospitalised.

We have just had a round of this at nursery! The two siblings that had been vaccinated (just the one dose) still got it unfortunately. We were very lucky and despite not being vaccinated my child got off very lightly. Only about 15 spots in total, none on the face, no itching (all the parents I spoke to reported no itching in their children), maybe it’s not as bad when you get it young as I remember itching! The spots scabbed over quickly so we were able to go out after a few days.

How long are you going for? Are you hiring a car? You could always drive somewhere remote and bring a picnic for some fresh air.

Oh really I didn’t know that. Good thing too I think.

Oh I’m sorry to hear about your little one. My son was about 2 I think, caught from his older siblings, he was absolutely covered. In his mouth, up his nose everywhere. He still had scars now he’s 38.

Duplicate post

The vaccine is £75 per dose. £150 total. 2 doses needed several weeks apart to count as being fully vaccinated. Good luck

But 85-90% of the protection comes from the first dose (ie 85-90% of people won't catch chickenpox if they only have one dose, and those that do catch it after one dose get it more mildly). The second dose helps people who didn't make a strong enough response first time round; and it helps the protection last as long as possible (which from US data arms to be at least 30 years and possibly life long).

Of which OPs child may be one of, and there’s no way of knowing if this will be the case unless they actually catch chickenpox after the first dose …. Nearly 4 million kids under 5 in the UK. 10 - 15 % of 4 million kids means up to 600000 of them won’t be fully protected until they have a second dose. Don’t fancy those odds. Most will catch it mildly. You only need to look back on previous threads to see that some won’t, and some will catch it more than once.

I’m pro the vaccine by the way. DD has her second dose in a couple of weeks. We’ve got to wait 3 weeks to see if she’s made it through this week’s outbreak at nursery.

Vaccinated now and you can prevent it even post exposure, even with 1 dose (follow up with the second 4 weeks later for lasting immunity). It’s not just offered at Boots- try Superdrug, local pharmacies, private GP, travel vax clinic. Hopefully you can find somewhere to do it today/tomorrow!

That didn’t work for our nursery friends! They still got after they were vaccinated.

I tried to ring round pharmacies today but no one had it in and said it would be Tuesday which would be too late. I asked today at pick up and apparently there’s only one confirmed case and the teacher said he doesn’t really go near DS… half term now anyway. Please pray for us and our holiday 😂

just noticed under DS armpit - could this be the start?

Hard to say from that picture. Is it fluid filled?

if it is then you will know by morning. Fingers crossed it’s early enough for them to scab over and get a fit to fly x