Chickenpox vaccination - has anyone's child had it and were there any adverse reactions?

[Anna8888]

Have just booked for my daughter (3) to have the chickenpox vaccination one month from now. Has anyone's child had it and how did they react?

I wouldn't have my children vaccinated against cp unless they (or someone in the family) had some kind of problem with their immune system.

We have good medical reasons for vaccination. I just want to know what the reaction might be.

can't imagine they'd be that dissimilar to any other type of jab - poss fever, rash, etc

I don't think the varecella vaccine is compulsory in the states. It is certainly offered. I could be out of touch though. The MMR is compulsory, but you can have singles.

Anna, you might try an American board as it is much more popular there so you might get a better sample of experience.

My kids didn't have the vaccine. I let them suffer through the real disease because I think it gives better immunity. My American sister was very surprised when I told her they had the pox. She couldn't believe we don't vaccinate in the UK.

Just to give you one positive message, Anna
My grand daughter who is American, had the cp vaccination when she was about 18 months(I think), she is now 3 and she was absolutely fine.
Good luck.

Thanks Wensley and Eleusis . I'll try hunting down some opinions. I also have to decide which vaccination to purchase...

Anna,
Do you mind if I ask why you want the vaccine? I'm just curious. Tell me to go away if you don't want to say.

Yes. Had it in France. I can track down the name if you are interested. ds1 had a reaction, but a relatively mild one. Around 10% of children get the same thing - 2/3 chicken pox spots and general grumpiness. It is not known for sure whether children who have that reaction are contagious.

Eleusis - my daughter has the same very, very fine skin that I have. When she falls over she heals well and quickly but little marks remains, just as they did for me as a child. I had chickenpox aged 7 and I scarred quite badly. I want her to have the chickenpox vaccination to avoid scarring.

When I talked to the paed yesterday about it, she said there were two main reasons for having the vaccination. The most usual reason was that parents wanted to avoid having to take a fortnight off work to care for their ill child, but the other reason, scarring, was a better/more valid reason IHO and she was happy to give the vaccination to my daughter given our skin type.

Oh, I must admit my biggest fear about them having the pox was the scarring. I made DD sleep with socks on her hands so she wouldn't scratch her face in her sleep. This caused all kinds of trauma because it mean she couldn't suck her thumb. We managed to get through it scar free. But, I understand your concern. My neice has a scar on her face from scratching one when she was two.

I suppose, as with most vaccines, the risk is that she may catch mild form of the disease it protects against.

Yes, I think that's the only risk from the chickenpox vaccination - and she'll get fewer spots/lesser risk of scarring from a mild case of chickenpox after vaccination than she would if she caught the disease.

Anyway, I need to research which vaccine. But I have month to do so - we were at the paed yesterday for Hepatitis B shot 1, and we're going to do varicella with Hepatitis B shot 2 in one month.