any Canadians who know about chickenpox vaccine?

[skerriesmum]

Hi! I live in Dublin and am heading to Nova Scotia soon for a visit with Grandma & Grandpa, yay! There is a new chickenpox vaccine there and am wondering about giving my ds the jab. Who knows anything about it? Is it also given in the US now? Thanks...

is is mandatory? cp is only serious in very rare circumstances.

I'm from NS - gorgeous place to visit! (and live) but live in London right now....
The vaccine is fairly new ( I mean in terms of it being offerd) and the take up isn't very widespread. Other than that don't know a whole lot. Can you try a search on google?

weather right now in NS not very warm, sorry

I'm not sure about Canada. Japan has offered the CP vaccine for over a decade and in Australia its been used routinely for at least five years. Not sure about US either, though the CDC website would probably tell you? Incidentally I had booked DD to have one when in Australia a few years ago, and the little blighter came out in the spots the day before the appointment!

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Not trying to sway anyone here, and don't want to get into an argument (probably red rag to bull situation, I know). 39 people died from chicken pox in the UK in 1996. We each have to make our own decision based on the figures, and I'm sure all MN members respect the opinions of others. Skerriesmum, I'm sure you've done the research, and the decision should be entirely yours.

although I think all of them had other conditions janinlondon.

CP vaccine is routine in the States now. The cynics say it was introduced as companies found parents of young children were taking too much time off work to care for their children with CP.

There was a samll trial in the UK, but the dept of health tends to deny all knowledge of it now

Anyway official line is that there are no plans to itroduce cp into the UK vax schedule, although it is available for people who are at risk of serious complications.

Hi hana, I grew up in Fredericton but now my parents live in Lunenburg, love it there! Apparently there are more complications and deaths from chickenpox than from mumps or measles now. The only issue I have is as it's so new, maybe immunity is not 100% and ds could get chickenpox when he's 50 or something!

JaninLondon, I wonder how old those people were? My peadiatrician (sp?) mentioned this jab saying that if a child doesn't have CP by age 13, it's worth giving the jab as CP after 13 years of age is v.painful and more serious. He did say though that it doesn't guarantee immunity...!

Hi - not Canadian, but can confirm what JimJams says - chickenpox vaccine is routine in the USA. DD was given it. She still got chickenpox (a week after we arrived back in the UK), but a very mild case that didn't seem to itch at all, and never spread beyond her torso.

Both my children have been vaccinated for CP in the usa. My stepson was extremely ill and hospitalized with CP, my stepdaughter had a mild case, but has scars on her face from it. I did the research and decided that I wanted it for my children. In any case, I think it's now mandatory in california and as I expect to be back there by the time my children are of school, I would have had to give it to them anyway.

Hi, I've just moved to Vancouver from the UK. First due in Sep.

Chickenpox vaccine is offered at 12months, for "susceptible individuals" - note that not all Canadian provinces will cover the cost.

I'm not going to bother.

Have a fab holiday

I've had the vaccination here in the UK. I had my immunity checked before deciding to go for a second child and discovered I wasn't immune so fought for the jab.

The jab was okay (two doses 8 weeks apart), no side effects to speak of in my case, but it didn't actually work When I was in the last trimester of pregnancy, ds1 came down with chickenpox and my immunity was checked again (they almost didn't, because I'd said I had the jab... they were very blase about it) and it was discovered I still had no immune response!!

However, I think I was probably just fairly unlucky... for most (80%ish) of people it should give full immunity and for (90%ish) of people it should reduce the severity of the illness if they do get it.

There are some doubts though as to whether it'll confer life long immunity. Not much good to be protected during childhood only to be at risk during childbearing age...