Urgent we need your thoughts on chickenpox

[OliviaMumsnet]

We've been asked to appear on News 24 about the Chickenpox vaccine today and we just want to hear your thoughts on this.

What was your experience with chickenpox? Have you had extreme experiences with it?
We'd love to know your thoughts as always (and preferably before 2pm!)
Thanks as ever
MNHQ

thb I had no idea it could be so dangerous

my 18m dd had it last week-about 40 or so spots, she didn't scratch at all, all healing up nicely now. So no big deal.

am ambivalent about another vaccination tbh
I would have said not necessary but didn't know you could die from it...not sure what to think now!

Sorry that was a crap post - it should have read...

It is not necessarily true about herd immunity...unless you are aiming for erradication.

I have an HepB vaccination because there is a risk of me catching HepB from my job. There will be no herd immunity there because most of the public are not immune to HepB...but it is given for my personal protection.

The main reason that the average life expectantly in the country has increased so much is due to the reduction in deaths in children (including deaths from measles, chicken pox etc). I fthink statistically if you live to 40 then your remianing lifespan is not significantly different to what is would have been 100 yrs ago (sure someone will prove me a liar but am sure I read that recently). There is no evidence that introducing vaccines is going to result in a herd of feeble people unable to fight the common cold. If nothing else the bloody common cold will still be around so we will build our immune systems by exposure to that!

(I speak as mother of a houseful of common cold germs at the moment)

slightly - but hep B has a very different mode of transmission to childhood illnesses.

actually in principle i wouldn't object to a chicken pox vaccine

no personal issues with vaccinations

doesn't make much sense to say that somehow vaccinating against all these things is weakening children's immune systems. the vaccines are actaully using the children's immune systems to protect them.

having had chicken pox, my two are still snifflers and will catch a cold from 100 paces, i think thats just cos they mini men so practicing getting man flu!

I apparently don't have any hep B antibodies in me... and yet I had the full course of jabs when working at the hospital

Not at all relevant but felt the need to share

Thats true....but there are instance where vaccination is purely to give an individual pesonal protection rather than herd protection/erraication...

Flu virus for eg...vulnerable are immunised and there is no intention to create herd immunity there.

thanks for that flame
very enlightening

Flame My titre is borderline too. Means that I can pass off the riskier work to colleagues

Flame - yes that can happen with the hep B vaccine. It's not always effective, and some people will need boosters sooner then other people. Some people will never have immunity.

I've had the TB vaccine BCG, but they didn't think it worked.

Oooh I'm not a freak then (Or I am, but it is a known about freakdom)

opposite to you Belgo - I never had the BCG in school, skin test came up possitive as I have antibodies. No one has any idea where on earth from...

You will be surprised how many viral infections can be contracted without showing any symptoms....not sure if that applies to TB though

oh meely My DD had bad chicken pox when she was 5 months despite being exclusively breastfed and me having had it. Totally gave the lie to all this thing about babies only getting it mildly and it is better if they get it younger etc. She was unconsolable and could not be put down day or night, could only be slightly comforted by a breast feed.

Ooh I am still about BCG - my bumps came up, but not enough apparently, so I had to have the jab anyway, and then it went infected and I had this big manky hole in my arm.

slightlymad I wasn't implying that there should be a vaxination against asthma, what I meant was that far more children are dying of asthma than chicken pox, and we're not doing much to iradicate the underlying causes, ie increased polution etc (as asthma is far more common than was the case, say, 20 years ago), whereas illnesses like chicken pox which are, for the most part, completely harmless there is this sudden panic and assumed need to vaxinate all children.

The number of diseases we immunize our children against concerns me. When they are babies they are vaxinated against about 5 different illnesses, then mmr at 1, and when they are preschool age we give them a dose of all those diseases in one hit. While I am pro vaxination for the most part (although also realize that there are many who do not/would not vaxinate because of very valid reasons), i do not believe that constantly exposing our children to vast quantities of illnesses which they in all likelyhood may never even catch is healthy.

My son barely knew he was even ill with chickenpox. My daughter was slightly more poorly but was out on her scooter within two days and driving me mad because she was bored and couldn't go back to nursery.

My son barely knew he was even ill with chickenpox. My daughter was slightly more poorly but was out on her scooter within two days and driving me mad because she was bored and couldn't go back to nursery.

I also think that if they were to group this vaxination in with mmr there is serious risk that the take up of mmr will also decrease as people are uneasy enough about mmr as it is, and adding another vaxination into the mix would, IMO, cause those who were slightly uneasy yet still prepared to take the chance to think again and potentially not immunize at all.

My girls had chicken pox, one was nearly three years old the other was 5 weeks old. Neither of them seemed unwell just spotty.

When all children are vacinated are the next generation of parents going to fret over chicken pox the way we fret over Measles?

ds had it with virtually no probs but dh got it a was very,very ill

I'm not sure six deaths are worth mass immunisation. Of course it's desperately sad for those families (although I wonder whether doctors failing to pick up secondary infections played a part?) but in health economic cost/benefit terms, is it really a sensible thing to do?

I forget how many children are in the country but I think it's more than 10 million. So 6 deaths and 100 serious illnesses are a very, very small proportion of the total - and you'd have to vaccinate almost all of those children to make a difference.

It might help vulnerable people such as pregnant women or the elderly though, I guess.