Chicken pox vaccine for nearly 5 yo

[aggies87]

Good morning,

Happy New Year to everyone!

I am writing this post as I am considering to vaccinate my daughter who will be 5 in may against chicken pox but I am a little bit hesitant since it’s not in vaccination programme and I would appreciate your advice.

My older daughter who is now 14 had the worse case of chicken pox when she was 6 with 7 days of nearly 40 degrees fever and around 500 oozing blisters all over her body including scalp inside mouth ears vagina etc. This was by far the worse illness that she had in her life and I couldn’t help her to relief the pain. She also has a lot of scars from it as certain blisters were about 0,5-1cm big.

I am worried that my second daughter may experience it the same way as they are both of mixed background and maybe they are predisposed to sever symptoms.

When I was a child my mum did not even know I had it as I didn’t have any blisters - only blood result revealed that I did have it.

i was wondering whether you could kindly advise and share your experience re chicken pox vaccination. I would be most grateful.

My daughter had it at 16 months old and no side effects at all. It is likely to be added to the childhood programme finally at some point. It is in most other first world countries around the world and given with the mmr at 1 years old.

I would not hesitate to get it for your child. Just remember to go back for the 2nd injection.

My son had the chicken pox vaccine last summer. His first dose was when he was 5 years 3 months old and he didn't react to that one at all. The second dose six weeks later gave him about 4 little blisters. One on his wrist and a couple on his face. None have left lasting marks and I would definitely recommend getting it done. I wouldn't have left it so late but COVID happened and then there was a vaccine shortage so couldn't have it done until last year.

My daughter is a year old at the end of February and she'll be having her chicken pox vaccine this summer! Just remember that it doesn't necessarily mean they won't get chicken pox, but it should significantly reduce symptoms if they do catch it

Both of mine have had the vaccine. The UK is unusual in it not being included in standard childhood vaccination programme.

Any medic I've asked about it has always opted to have their own child vaccinated.

No side effects.

We opted to get them done in Boots (2 jabs a few months apart)

Both of mine had it (both with around 14 months). No issues, no side effects. It’s a standard vaccine in my home country and given for free.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/14/chickenpox-vaccine-should-be-given-to-children-on-nhs-jcvi-says

We had a similar experience our older child was really ill with chickenpox, almost hospitalised, we decided to get our second vaccinated. It's a very safe vaccine and is part of the schedule in lots of other countries. However... our 2nd DC still got chickenpox after the vaccine! Very mildly though, just a handful of spots. Guessing they have very good immunity after both vaccine and natural infection though. I would do it again.

My son had the vaccine at a similar age.
Two jabs at boots a few weeks apart. No side effects.
I would definitely recommend it.
Every so often I suffer from shingles, which is a reactivation of the CP virus. If a child hasn't had chicken pox then they will also avoid shingles in later life.

Both of mine had it done in Superdrug. One at age 2.5 and the other age 1. Both absolutely fine and I have no regrets as it was going round childcare settings constantly for years and others had to miss holidays and weddings and things because of it and we have sailed through so far.

My son had it at a private GP age 13 months. No side effects at all, really pleased we did it. I'll be doing the same for my youngest in a few months.

Go for it. Other than for financial reasons if money is really tight, I have no idea why you wouldn’t. Sure, it’s usually ‘mild’, but a) I’ve never known anyone actually enjoy being ill and itchy and I’m happy to pay £140 to avoid my child suffering for a week or two and b) as OP highlights it can be very very unpleasant, and end in hospital admission and even death. It’s a no brainier to me. Most countries do it as standard. The fact the NHS don’t is financial, and due to vaccine hesitancy due to a lunatic 20+ years ago scaring people, not because the vaccine is a bad idea.

As far as the money goes, I also worked out I'd lose far more in wages if they caught it since I have to take unpaid leave if I'm not the one who's sick, and they'd likely be off for a week or more.

Add any missed activities or trips you've already paid for, and the money is easily worth it.

@endofanera23 exactly this. My DH’s
colleague was off for 3 weeks as her DD had a very bad case of chicken pox.