Anyone's kid not had chickenpox?

[Silverchalk46]

My son is 10 and never had chicken pox, is this normal. He's been exposed to it quite a few times but never been ill with it.

My two haven't had it or been exposed to it, they are 7 and 4.5. I'm planning to get the vaccine for them when we can afford it, especially for my 7yo!

Edit to add that it's entirely coincidental that they haven't, we certainly haven't tried to avoid it, 7yo just didn't pick it up in her childcare settings as I had expected her to!

@MumOfOneAwesomeHuman you were very lucky and quite unusual to be affected mildly. I got it at 33 and was very ill, and that is very common with adult chickenpox.

OP get yourself off to a pharmacy and have the two vaccines. You really don't want to get chickenpox now.
I won't begin to describe where I had some of the hundreds of blistered spots so just use your imagination. They weren't all immediately visible is all I'll say!

Sorry OP, I see it's for your 10yr old. My answer stays the same though. Get the jabs!!

DS aged 10 had never had CP so we took him off to Boots for the two jabs. £75 a pop plus points on my Boots Advantage card 😁

I caught it at age 11. My 3yr old had avoided it so far despite it going round nursery a few times. I decided to get them immunised at the end of last year (£130 for 2 doses in local pharmacy) as I didn't want them missing school with it in the future.

I should add that DS was fully on board when the pharmacist reassured him it would be as painful(less) as the Covid jab.

My children were born in countries where the vaccine is standard but even if they hadn't been, I'd have paid for it. I didn't get CP as a child and caught it aged 40. It was absolutely horrendous.

I mentioned this to my GP when my DC reached 11 and still hadn't caught it. She suggested a blood test before I paid for a vaccination. Blood test showed he was immune and therefore must have had it so mildly that we never even noticed. Worth checking before you spend £75 on a jab.

My 9 yr old has never had it either

My kids are adults now but the vaccine is standard here, so they all got it as smaller children. As did most of their schoolmates I’d assume.

I got my immunity tested at 29 before trying to conceive as I had never had CP despite having being exposed to it a few times.
The test showed immunity so my GP said I must of had asymptomatic CP at some stage..

My daughter swerved it until she was 10

I haven't knowingly had it. My brother had it when we were children though. When I was pregnant I was exposed to chickenpox and had to seek medical advice. My midwife could see from my blood tests that I had immunity for it so I would guess it was from my brother's dose of CP. Your DC might be the same.

My 20 yo son has never had chickenpox (not vaccinated - I don’t think the vaccine was around when he was small). DD had it as a toddler (before DS came along). He’s been exposed - practically rubbed against other children with it! It ripped through his Y1 class one spring and he STILL didn’t get it. Of course it’s possible he had a very mild case at some point without being noticed……

I vaccinated both my children in the UK within the last 5 years. We just went to Boots and paid. They haven't had it and seeing how ill my friends children have been with it, I'm glad.

I avoided it as a child despite beung in contact with others who had it, had immunity tested when pregnant (didn't have any). I finally got it at the ripe old age of 36 at the same time as DD who was 9 months old. We caught it from a friend's DD who came out in spots fay after we'd seen them.
I felt fluey for 3 days but apart from that, it wasn't bad. Itchy but Poxclin took care of that, no scars. I do know of others who had it as adults and none of them suffered badly.
In more recent years, I've had chemo so was glad I'd had it by then!

Me too.
In my fifty's
Despite me round my kids who had it at 1 and 2 not really poorly though.
My sister at 17 - in bed for 2 weeks.
And my granny (shingles)
Must be immuned not had covid either

Yeah my 11 year old has never had it, but I haven't either. When I was pregnant with him, I worked with young children, and we had an outbreak. I had to have a blood test which came back that I was immune from chicken pox and shingles. Never knew someone could be immune with all the different variants?? My eldest who is 17 and has it once.

My (then) 9-year-old hadn’t caught it, despite being exposed a few times. We planned to vaccinate, but asked the GP for a blood test first. It showed antibodies, so he had caught it a some stage.

Sorry realise this thread is a few weeks old now. My son who has just turned 12 has never had chicken pox. Seriously considering getting him vaccinated now.

I have a 9yo who hasn't had it to my knowledge. Will the NHS do the blood test to check for immunity, or do you have to pay for that privately as well?

Oh sorry - I see someone else has already answered my Q.

Honestly, the jab is a no brainer for me if your child hasn't had it. Aside from sparing your child the misery of the itchy spots and possible complications, you will also protect them from shingles in later life.

From what I've read, the jab is a live vaccine, and gives you immunity in the same way as having the illness as a young child does, therefore does not protect you from shingles - in fact from what I read, making older people more likely to get shingles seems to be one reason we haven't had a routine cp jab on the nhs in this country.

I still think it's better to get the jab once a certain age is reached without having contracted it and am intending to get DD jabbed. My understanding is that shingles is unpleasant, but CP potentially life changing or fatal in teens and up.

@PurpleSaucepan there's a routine NHS shingles vaccine and the age eligibility has recently been lowered.

I think the main reason we haven't had cp vaccination in the UK is the usual one ie money. Happily it has now been recommended and I believe that such a recommendation is a formality ie it will be added to the usual ones.
You're certainly right about cp being serious in adults (shudders at the memory)