Chickenpox vaccine

[Starry4321]

We are thinking of getting the chickenpox vaccine for our 1.5 year old. He’s had loads of colds and bugs this year all normal stuff and has shrugged it off in a week but it would be nice to have one less thing to worry about. Hand foot and mouth was traumatic!

Has anyone had this vaccine for their child? Would you recommend?

It was the trauma of hand foot and mouth which prompted us to get the jab too. No regrets at all. Also no side effects which surprised me as mine really suffered with the other jasoulfulbs.

It is actually due to be included in the standard childhood vaccination programme, it just hasn't happened yet.

They can still get chickenpox with the jab but it would be really mild. When there was an outbreak at nursery a friend's vaccinated child had five spots that they were completely unphased by.

Yes, both my DC have had it. CP vaccine is given as standard in many countries and has been for many years.

CP can in rare cases be very serious, is often quite miserable for child and parent, and often causes scars. If you can afford the vaccine why wouldn’t you.

Yes I got it for my daughter. She's ten now and has not caught chickenpox so I assume the vaccine worked.
I happened to get it free as part of a vaccine trial (she definitely got the vaccine, the trial was between two different types of the vaccine) but if I had paid it would have been well worth it as had to take time off work with my older child when he got chicken pox. Plus the suffering he went through even with a mild case.

I will be advising my daughter to get a blood test to check immunity once she is thinking of having children, just to ensure she is immune before getting pregnant.
But even with this thought I would still be advising to get the vaccine if you can. Other countries have it on the normal childhood schedule of vaccines.

Yes both of mine have had it. Done at Boots - 2 jabs about 10 weeks apart if I remember correctly.

Both mine had it, no side effects, even for DD2 who can be a bit sensitive to such things.

Got both mine done at 9 months old. They are 5 and 8 now had have avoided catching it despite multiple outbreaks at school and nursery. CP is at best uncomfortable and at worst deadly. If you can afford it then why wouldn't you?

My DD had it, when she did get chicken pox it was very mild - she had about 10 spots that didn't itch and felt fine

Mine had it recently. Mild side effects of a temperature and being generally out of sorts for a day or two but I'm glad they've got the protection now. Chicken pox isn't fun.

Both mine had it and I got it too as I've never had the pox. No regrets.

It's a waste of money imo. My friend got her toddler vaccinated and since then she's had chicken pox twice! My kids aren't vaccinated against it (but everything else obviously) and the eldest had it once very mildly and toddler same age as my friends kid hasn't had it at all yet. Save your money

Absolutely worth it. We also got it after the trauma of Hand, Foot and Mouth. No side effects for our DD.

We got it for our toddler because we were due a baby and didn't want the baby getting it. But also for us it is worth the money because the cost is pretty much cancelled out by the week one of us would have to take off work if DS was off nursery.

It’s about 97 percent effective , really worth it a you don’t have to worry about them becoming seriously ill or scarred. I think it also lessons the risk of shingles in later life. On a practical note if you work you won’t have to worry about a lengthy time without childcare or them getting chickenpox before a flight.

Both my kids have been vaccinated. They'll be posters I'm sure who will say their child only had a mild dose so a vaccine isn't worth it, and thankfully most cases are mild, but I wasn't going to risk it for the sake of £150. You just don't know if your child will be one of the unlucky ones. There's also the risk of permanent scaring too. And when thinking about the cost of vaccine you also need to factor in the cost of covering the isolation period when they'll not be allowed back to nursery if you don't vaccinate and they catch a bad dose.

Hopefully the NHS will take onboard the UK's vaccine authority's recent recommendations and the vaccine will soon be added to the list of free childhood vaccines in this country, but I wouldn't hold off until then.

We got it as when our ds for 1 it was doing the rounds like a party bag from every first birthday party, a close relative was having chemo and I was getting so worked up about trying to avoid ds catching it. I started avoiding parties and then avoiding people who had been to parties recently which couldn’t carry on so decided it was worth getting his immunized. Even without the family member having chemo I would do it again in a heartbeat. DD is now in secondary school and has never had it and seen so many of his friends get it really badly. The doctor said to me when he got it that it should be on the standard immunizations but it’s a budget issue with the NHS which is why it hasn’t been given out as standard yet.

This is really spooky. I could have written this post. I have an 18 month old too and we’ve had HFM and other horrid things from nursery and I’m completely wiped out. I’m honestly more of a zombie than the newborn stage! Someone told me Chicken Pox is going around and I broke out into a cold sweat. I’ve just had him vaccinated today. Can’t say how he’ll be just yet, but 3 hours in and he’s fine so far. Resisting his nap at the moment, so no unusual behaviour there!

We got our DC vaccinated. I know it’s not very evidence-based but I work in healthcare and had come across two children with catastrophic complications of chickenpox. I couldn’t unsee that so, after properly weighing up pros and cons and costs, got my two vaccinated. No regrets (and no chickenpox so far 7 & 9 years in).

Exactly the same for us. If you can afford it, it's a no-brainer. Wish it was available on the NHS for everyone.

Yes, other countries do it. I didn’t want any holiday plans ruined by chickenpox and also some friend’s DC suffered really badly.

Mine both had it a few months ago after an outbreak at nursery. No side effects whatsoever (which is unusual for one of them!)

It's a no-brainer if you afford it.
Chicken pox equals a week or more off school and suffering for your child and loss of earnings or leave for you.
Some children can suffer massive complications, or (rarely) die, too.

I researched it and decided to get it for mine.

Both children vaccinated. No issues and neither has caught CP.

We got our son vaccinated when he was 3.5yrs. Chicken pox had circulated at his nursery a few times by then but he'd never caught it. The deciding factor to get the vaccine was it was heading towards peak chicken pox season again and we had flights booked to visit family in a few weeks time and I realised there was a real risk we would have to cancel plans if he caught it in the months ahead. And looking further ahead, if he escaped it during nursery then I didn't want him having to miss school because of it. He had the two doses at our local pharmacy (cheaper than Boots). No side effects at all.