Chicken Pox Vaccine - Sebastopol,CA

Hi E.,
My kids get all the vaccines. My daughter will also get the hpv vaccine when she is the right age. As a child, I had those play dates with the chicken pox kids and never got it. I caught the chicken pox was 18 and in college. Because I was older I do have scars from the pox (not many, or too severe, but scars none the less). Who knows why it didn't work the first dozen times I was exposed...

Some children become extremely ill (some die) from the chicken pox. While it's not many children each year, I didn't want to take the risk when a vaccine was available. Also, what if my child had the chicken pox and unknowingly gave it to an adult who had serious complications from it?

That's my two cents.
J.

E.,
When my daughter was 3 she got the chicken pox, from of all people her daddy, then they both gave them to the baby sister. I had a house full of people with the pox. I stayed well. My son has had the vaccine and has never had the pox. He was very sick as a child, and I am very glad we did this. Let me add one thing, if you get the pox, don't go out in public. A customer came into our store
and brought her two kids, having had pox as a child, I thought nothing of it. I ended up with shingles. Extremely
painful, all from the exposure to her kids. They could come back at any given time. Usually only on exposure though.
W.

I have had a couple of friends who's kids were vacinated and still got the chicken pox. They just didn't get them as severe as we did when we were little. They only had a few spots and they healed up pretty quickly. I think the vaccine helps so they aren't as sever and painful and so they don't turn into anything worse. I didn't get the pox until I was in high school and it was horrible!!! I wish I had the vaccine back then and I am glad my kids got it!

Hello E. (you and my daughter have the same name =0)). I'm still in the decision making area on rather or not I'm going to do vaccinate for chicken pox, but here is the information that got me thinking about it. I'm generally pro-vaccines, but this one got me thinking. When I told my doctor this she said that it's not one she's going to get upset about if I choose not to do it. She would ideally like to see every child vaccinated with all available vaccines, but if I choose not to do one, she would be glad it is this one (clearly a pro-vaccine dr). From the little amount of reading I have done at this point an average of 10,600 kids are hospitalized from chicken pox each year and 100 to 150 children actually die from chicken pox. So there are good reasons to vaccinate for chicken pox. Another good reason is it also protects your baby from shingles. My main concern and main reason that I do not want to vaccinate against it is that chicken pox becomes more serious the older your child gets. From my understanding, the vaccine "wears off" after some time and they have to get a booster of it (I thought it was around 10 years old, but I could be wrong). Well, the vaccine is only 85% effective and I'm concerned my daughter may end up getting chicken pox from the second dose, or in some gap where the vaccine is no longer working, at an age where it is more dangerous. Also, my sister-in-law isn't vaccinating for chicken pox (and a few of her friends are not as well) so I feel like we are more likely to end up exposed to chicken pox and would rather go with the “natural vaccination” of it, which would be a pox party then put her at risk of getting it when she’s older, since she will be exposed to kids that hasn’t been vaccinated for it.
I hope this help!
C.

Even with the vaccine, chicken pox is still going around. I chose to vaccinate my kids because I had a horrible case of chicken pox when I was young and it was very traumatic and I didn't want my kids to suffer through that. (I was 6 years old, so not that old, and had a lot of complications, so it doesn't just happen to older kids) And although it may not be 100% effective, it is nice to know that if they are exposed, they are likely to have a milder form than what I suffered through as a child. We have since been exposed to chicken pox at least 3 times, and so far, the vaccine has been effective. And from the parents of kids who have recently had it, it can be very difficult, since you are pretty much housebound for at least 2 weeks. It would be very irresponsible to take your child out in public to expose innocent people to this if you know your child has it. My friends child was only 6 months old and had a horrible case of it. It is distressing to see your infant so uncomfortable. They had no idea where she was exposed to this, but her poor daughter was miserable. Choosing whether or not to vaccinate is a very personal decision, but I just felt for my kids, I rather at least try to prevent them from coming down with something that is preventable. One more thing, as far as not vaccinating, I have a friend from elementary school that was exposed to them over and over again, trying to get her to get them as a child, and it never worked, then she had chicken pox in college and it was horrible for her. So even if you don't vaccinate, there is no guarantee your kids will contract chicken pox as a child and may still develop shingles as an adult.

Hi E.,

I have given my son all of the vaccinations so far and I feel that it is better to be safe than sorry. If there is a preventative vaccination for chicken pox, why not prevent it? I think ultimately, you should go with your gut instinct. If you feel its not needed, don't do it. Do whats best for your child.

Molly

More about shingles:
When you get chicken pox, the disease will go away, but the virus remains in nerve cells in your spine for life. Later on, if your immune system is suppressed, those viruses can become reactivated and cause shingles. Shingles can be terribly painful. My father had it when I was a child. He was so swollen and scarred that a stranger thought someone had shot him in the face with a shotgun. The pain was so bad that even with opiates my father cried. Contact with someone who has shingles can cause chicken pox in those who aren't immune, so both my sister and I came down with chicken pox from exposure to my father. My mother counts this as one of the very worst periods of her entire life. I'm getting my child vaccinated.

It's pointless! I, too, came froma generation that through "chicken pox parties" so we would all get it. The CDC likes to site the very VERY few children who actually had complications from the disease. YES, it was totally annoying and uncomfortable and many probably went insane trying to scratch through the socks we had to wear on our hands, but we survived.
Shingles is the form that chicken pox takes in adulthood and is treatable with St. John's Wort.

I'm a pro-vaccine person but on this one I really don't see the point. I plan on trying to expose my daughter when she's young (hopefully before she starts school.) If she doesn't contract it by the time she's 10 I'll get her vaccinated b/c chicken pox can be very dangerous once you're an adult (or even a teenager).

actually vaccinating for chicken pox will increase the likelihood of getting shingles later on. read this article here: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/0...

this is a known problem and now they're working on a shingles vaccine.

"When adults are re-exposed to the chickenpox virus from their children, the immune system is stimulated to keep dormant viruses in check. With the elimination of the chickenpox virus from general circulation, the CDC anticipates that as many as 50 million adults could experience the horrendous, often disabling pain, caused by shingles." - from dr. sherri tenpenny

so now they're making vaccines to treat problems caused by vaccines.

also, they're saying the cp vaccine only lasts for 10 years. then you'll need to get boosters. sometimes the vaccine causes cp, (it's a live virus vaccine) which could be dangerous as an adult.

and a side note, not sure if it would matter to you, but the cp vaccine is developed using aborted fetal tissue...

i had cp as a kid, and i'll be exposing my girls so that they can get NATURAL, LIFE LONG immunity. i think the vaccine is unnecessary and more dangerous in the long run.

There have been a couple of posts about vaccines within the past few days. You probably will get a ton of responses from anti-vaccination people, so ultimately whether or not to vaccinate your child depends on what camp you're in on the whole subject. You can find your answer on the internet, there is a reason for vaccinating against chickenpox even though it is probably less dangerous than most other disease they immunize against. I for one believe in vaccines, but if I had to omit one, it would probably be chickenpox.

My children were vaccinated for it, but largely because at the time it was new and no one told me what it was for, they just did it. Had I been informed and / or asked, I might have said no because it does wear off and chicken pox is more of a problem for adults than children in general, so I will make sure they have boosters later to hopefully prevent them from contracting it as and adult. At this point, it's too late to make a decision as it was taken out of my hands, but I lean towards not, even though in general I am for vaccines.
I would advise to go with your gut instinct. There is no right or wrong answer here.

Hey E.,

I read a great book that helped me to figure out what vaccines I was and was not going to give my baby. It is called "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccines" by Stephanie Cave MD.

I know this is a very hot topic now, but this book did not sensationalize or use fear as a tactic. It is just the history of different illnesses and vaccines. And it has an entire chapter on Varicella (chicken pox). The book does touch on the autism/autoimmune topic, but it not a book about that and it does not have a strong bias one way. Hopefully this info can help you figure out what is best for you and your child.

I ended up electing not to do this vaccine, after doing the research it didn't seem worth it to me.

Good luck!