Has anyone had their child vaccinated for chickenpox?

[Tryingandhoping2020]

Pros and cons? If it works well I'd be happy to shell out to save my DD some suffering but I don't want to make it more likely she'll get it when she's older? Does it work for life?

I've just had my daughter vaccinated today after the first dose 6 weeks ago - the cost is preferable to her suffering and the potential time off we would need.
As others have said, it is widely given with other childhood vaccinations in other developed countries. The NHS had been considering rolling out pre-COVID and I imagine it will be added as a standard NHS vaccine in the next few years.

My youngest is 6 and I decided I was going to get the vaccine in the new year. And then they got chicken pox over Xmas! And covid. It’s like a plague pit in our house. Glad they have got it out of the way now but in hindsight wish I had got the chicken pox vaccine before!

Chrita yes, I was told by a GP around 2015 that it had been due to be added to the vaccine schedule, but was pulled because of a spike in pertussis cases which required an additional pertussis vaccination booster programme, and they didn’t want to muddy the public health messaging around vaccination as a result. (There was too, I had an updated pertussis vaccination in pregnancy at the time.)

My daughter had it at our local private hospital. At best chickenpox is miserable. At worst it can have fatal complications. If you have the money it is a no-brainer.

This is an interesting read. My daughter asked her hv about having the vaccine for her 15 month old daughter. She said she hadn't heard of it and if the NHS weren't providing it and you had to pay then it wasn't worth having

I’ve been thinking about it too. My friend’s daughter ended up in intensive care from it when she was about 2.

My dd2 was a preemie (29 weeker) and was under (and still is) various doctors. She is actually now completely well, just v small still.

Anyway, CP was going round her nursery when she must have been 18months. Her paed advised me to vaccinate her. I didn't question at the time if the NHS would fund (which I probably should have done) but we paid privately.

From my understanding, with the vaccine, it's could to be exposed to CP. So the fact she has been multiple times is good for her immunity. I think the NHS site quoted above is a reason we don't vaccinate the population. As if everyone was immune, we wouldn't be exposed to boost immunity etc. Also, as far as I know, and I may be wrong, you can't catch shingles. You can catch CP from shingles. But people who suffer shingles have already had CP and develop shingles when their body is suffering/run down. I have had it twice and this is what I was told anyway.

DD is now 9 and not had CP. Her elder sister had it mildly before her dsis was born.

I had my DS vaccinated when he was 14 months, he normally reacts quite badly to jabs with fevers but didn’t have side effects at all with CP. I feel so relieved to have it done, as others have said at best it’s a miserable week for everyone and at worst it can be really serious. I think, and I may be wrong, that they can get a booster at 18 to improve lifelong immunity xxx

Yep did it with both of ours!

My mum has a compromised immune system and if she caught chicken pocs from them it could make her really unwell.

No regrets and no adverse affects.

Not the DC, but we paid for DH. We couldn't be sure if he'd had it in childhood - trauma means he's blanked a lot of it out - and his mother isn't a reliable source. Better to be safe than sorry as it is nasty in adults. He reacts very badly to flu vaccines, but was fine with this one.

Yes. Recurrent shingles seems to run in my family and I really didn't want my kids to suffer like I have so I got them both vaccinated young.

@baggies

This is an interesting read. My daughter asked her hv about having the vaccine for her 15 month old daughter. She said she hadn't heard of it and if the NHS weren't providing it and you had to pay then it wasn't worth having

I saw a GP who looked at me like I had 3 heads when I said DC had been vaccinated against CPx and asked why I’d do that (was there about a rash). He huffed that “well we don’t offer that” as if it was a crazy thing to do 🤷🏻‍♀️

I was planning to do it after my 2nd had had his 1 year old jabs but 4 year old brought it home right before that (had to cancel the jabs as she was still in the infectious period) and both had it then. In hindsight I should have got 4 year old done at 18 months as 1 year old was very miserable with it and it triggered viral wheeze for 6 months! Also had the embarrassment of him having to get an ambulance to hospital with wheeze, crackles and a temperature that wouldn't respond to Calpol with the poxy 1 year old!

@baggies

This is an interesting read. My daughter asked her hv about having the vaccine for her 15 month old daughter. She said she hadn't heard of it and if the NHS weren't providing it and you had to pay then it wasn't worth having

I bet her HV never said this at all🙄

@Allthesefolks I saw a very old school GP (he did MY baby jabs in the 80s he recognised my unusual surname because he knew my Gran!) who was working as a locum at his (my) old practice for the NHS. He's a private GP now mainly and when I took my toddler in for something else he asked if he jabs were up to date. I said they were and that she'd had CP one privately too and he said 'good for you! It's ridiculous that it's not part of the NHS standard ones these days'.

Like I said he's semi retired now, so proper old school.

Yes, Older DS’s vaccinated at 3&5. My baby will be vaccinated 4 weeks after his 1 year jabs.
A family member had it awfully and it left terrible scars. I don’t want to risk it.
Haven’t heard about boosters though - do boots do these?

My youngest has as his older brother spent five days in hospital age 1 very unwell with infected chicken pox initially thought to be sepsis. It did poison his blood. I felt lied to that chicken pox is a “mild childhood” illness.

I had DD2 vaccinated about 8 years ago when she was 2.

My elder DD had had chicken pox at 11 months old and it wasn't too bad. However, the reason we decided to get DD2 vaccinated was because a friend's son became extremely unwell with chicken pox. He ended up being blue lighted in an ambulance to a major hospital where they literally battled to save his life. Thankfully they succeeded in saving him but the poor boy then needed plastic surgery on his face because of the damage caused by the illness. His older sibling had also had chicken pox before him and had been fine.

It cost about £100 for the 2 vaccinations.

@M1RR0R

Yes, Older DS’s vaccinated at 3&5. My baby will be vaccinated 4 weeks after his 1 year jabs. A family member had it awfully and it left terrible scars. I don’t want to risk it. Haven’t heard about boosters though - do boots do these?

They basically say a booster may be needed in adulthood but there’s not a huge amount of data to be sure. I don’t think it’s been around long enough for anyone to have had the booster as of yet. The pharmacist who did my little boys vaccinations gave me information to pass onto my GP surgery so it could go on his record that he’s been vaccinated and so if a booster is needed when he’s an adult they’ll contact us, I doubt they would though, I think it’d just be something I’ll keep an eye out for as he gets older.

@M1RR0R

Yes, Older DS’s vaccinated at 3&5. My baby will be vaccinated 4 weeks after his 1 year jabs. A family member had it awfully and it left terrible scars. I don’t want to risk it. Haven’t heard about boosters though - do boots do these?

You're supposed to have 2, second one 4-6 weeks after the first.

@Kitkat151
Why? I was there when she said it.

Yes, no regrets, and don't see the cost as a downside really as I'd lose more money being off on unpaid leave for multiple days if DC1 got it. DC2 (arriving shortly) will also get it ASAP.

This is really interesting! No idea this was even a vaccine you could get. Oldest had chicken pox when he was 9 - horrendously ill for weeks and then poor soul got it again at 13 when his younger brothers brought it back from nursery.
I always thought it was one of those childhood illnesses you just caught and had to get over!
I was born in 89 but never offered this? We spent a lot of time abroad so had all sorts of weird and wonderful vaccines but never chicken pox!

Yup.

A friend of ours' DC came down with CP on their 2nd day (of 2 weeks) at DisneyWorld, they had gone for the full £££ hotel with all the extras. They called down to reception for help getting Calpol equivalents etc when it was obvious that it was CP and they were asked to leave the hotel and moved to a motel miles away. They were treated like they'd brought the plague into Disney (apparently they had to report it to the CDC but the staff might have been a bit overzealous there) and the staff thought they must be from some 3rd world country as they hadn't even heard of the vaccine. It was all eventually sorted out by their travel insurance company but it was a total nightmare for them!

@User478

Chickenpox is a notifiable disease in the US- staff were following protocols.