Why vaccinate against chickenpox?

[BeccaL]

Quite agree Molly - will up the level of nagging....

[Saffron]

buggie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> I find it especially surprising to see that some

> who worry about giving the regular immunisations

> are then seeming happy to consider giving/give

> their child this.

For the sake of argument this statement could also be turned on its head to read...

It is equally surprising that some who don't worry about giving the regular immunisations are then seemingly against considering giving the chickenpox vaccine.

[Saffron]

buggie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Just to reassure, I've never seen babies in A&E

> with complications from chickenpox, I've heard if

> mums being keen fir them to have it early as they

> don't scratch as much = less scarring.

Very sorry to say that my MIL's friend lost her baby at 6 days old due to exposure to chickenpox virus. This was some time ago, about 15 years. Perhaps there are better antibody treatments now.

> Still unsure about the reasoning behind national

> immunisation campaigns in the countries

> mentioned... Could understand it being beneficial

> once teenage/adult if not had chickenpox as it

> does seem to affect adults more, but not seen

> anything to convince me yet.

The benefit would be not just to the potentially infected individuals, but also consider the loss in terms of people taking days off work sick or to care for sick children, passing the virus on to vulnerable individuals, etc.

I was slightly shocked recently by the behaviour of a friend of mine. Her 2 yo daughter had been sent home from nursery for several days b/c of chickenpox infection. Instead of keeping her at home to minimise the spread, my friend was taking her out to playgroups and local playgrounds.

[Saffron]

Fuschia Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> "The chickenpox vaccine is not part of the UK

> childhood vaccination programme, because experts

> think that introducing a chickenpox vaccination

> for children could increase the risk of shingles

> in older people"

I found the title of this article very misleading. After looking at the research myself, it seems that the most beneficial route would be to vaccinate both young people and the 'elderly', as (re)immunisation with the jab, is now thought to diminish the emergence of varicella virus as shingles.

After looking into the research, here's what else I found:

- Immunisation 3 to 5 days post-exposure can result in a 70-90% reduction in the likelihood of the exposed individual developing chickenpox

- Immunisation with a booster 6 wks to 6 mos afterwards results in greater than 90% immunity for 10 to 20 years, so another booster in the teen years would be advisable.

- About 1 in 100 children under 16 with chickenpox will develop severe complications, and a few of those children will die.

- Younger children do appear to be less affected by chickenpox symptoms than older children, but no one really knows what the 'cut off' age is. The benefit of offering the vaccine to young children would be to give them immunity well before they reach an age where symptoms could become profound.

MediCentre at Victoria Station offers chickenpox jabs for babies over 1 year old. The cost is ?73, with a booster at 6 weeks. An appointment is advisable to minimise waiting.

[buggie]

Really sorry to hear of your friends loss Saffron - having dealt with infant deaths in A&E it is by no means something I take lightly.

I agree my statement can be reversed as well, and having opened up the discussion it has made me consider my own thoughts on immunisations.

Think it all comes down to your own perspective/experiences. Having nursed though the low uptake of the MMR I have seen lots of bad cases of measles, babies being admitted for treatment and needing high levels of care. In the same time (and with I'd guess below 5% of children immunised against it) I've seen < 5 children with severe symptoms of chickenpox (normally badly infected pox and a couple of pneumonia's) all of which were treated and recovered well.

While understanding the difficulties faced by working parents (my mat leave is whizzing by at a rate of knots!) I have an uneasy feeling about immunising to prevent needing to take time off work/use holiday to care for sick children - we already see lots of cases in A&E where parents get a call from school saying their child is sick and head straight to us (occasionally stopping for McDonalds on the way - I wish I was joking) expecting us to have some sort of magic medicine to cure gastroenteritis/tonsillitis/cold or flu... when told it will take 24/48hrs and they shouldn't return to nursery/school/other contact with children until the symptoms have resolved we're looked at with horror as if caring for a sick child was a point snuck into their parenting contract in the v v small print at the bottom of the form, which when I've helped families living with a child with cancer or even life long conditions such as cystic fibrosis or sickle cell makes me feel a bit churlish.

I'm guessing for most of these parents it is due to them for whatever reason not being in jobs that enable them to take adequate carers leave/be in such low paid work or on agency contract whereby no sick/carers leave is paid, if this is the case, is an immunisation really the answer - or should there be more pressure on employers to offer proper paid carers leave for parents (Dad's as well as Mum's).

My worry is that if it is seen that parents would rather look to prevent their children ever becoming ill, then it would be claimed that this sort of provision isn't wanted and so would slip further down the political agenda. No matter how many immunisations are offered, children will become ill at some point or another, chickenpox isn't the worst that can happen by a long stretch.

[trinity]

cactus Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm tempted to have my 6 year old vaccinated, he's

> been exposed to

> chickenpox on at least three occasions but has

> never caught it, unless he had such a mild dose

> that none of us noticed!

My understanding of chicken pox is that a significant proportion of the population has natural immunity to it. Therefore if your son has had 3 exposures to it already with no reaction then he may be naturally immune.

Also it is very easy to miss very mild cases eg my son came down with 2 spots only.