OT: Did you give your dc the chicken pox vaccine?

[fterie4u]

PLEASE - vaccinate your children. There are so many known cases of death and disibility from Chicken Pox (and other common infectious diseases) and virtually no documentable directly from the vaccines. While the vaccine may be new in the US, it was used in Japan with great success for 15 yrs before available here (so we got a defacto experiment in Japanese children). NO vaccines are for life, this is why kids get multiple shots into their college years and people need a tetanus every ten years. The only reason we don't continue to booster adults for all these diseases is that their incidence of exposure is so low after college.

In order for vaccination to eliminate these potential life-threatening disease, everyone needs to participate. Just look at Polio - it was eradicated in the US and is now enjoying a resurgance as people from other countries who don't routinely get the vaccine emmigrate here.

In addition, shingles is seen most often in immune-compromised adults and is a manifestation of a previous (usually childhood) infection. It can be deadly at worst, painful at best. If you never had chickenpox, you can't get shingles. Giving your kid chicken pox via a party doesn't make him/her immune, it makes them a life-long carrier of the virus (albeit a non-contagous one, until the shingles episode).

I know there is a lot of anecdotal evidence about kids getting autism, ADHD, etc from vaccines, but that is all it is. The peer-reviewed medical literature doesn't support this - and it's not some conspiracy. I have nothing to gain except the protection of my kids from infections that are so easily avoidable, but can be so deadly.

Hey I just wanted to say we will be at SoG the end of September into the first week of October! We LOVE it there!
Also, thank you all very much for your thoughts and advice!

 

[jmay127]

Both ds have had the shot. 14 yo before he started school as I didn't want him getting them once it started plus ped advised due to his asthma. 8 yo also before started school as it is required here now. Neither had a reaction though ped advised 14 yo will need booster soon. Dh & I both had cp as kids.

 

[Starr W.]

I even got the vaccine since I never had chicken pox as a kid, so my eldest and I got ours on the same day.

 

[TheDizMom]

I gave the vaccine to both my kids . My DD got hers at the recommended time as she was my second to get it. I sat on the fence on it for a while with my DS because when he was born not all Peds. were convinced on it . After a bit of time I gave it to him when he was 3 and doctors were then feeling more strongly that it should be given to every child. Neither child had a reaction with a rash only slight fevers I believe. Now comes the sticky part. When my DS was 6 1/2 my niece got the chicken pox from a child who had developed the rash from the shot. Now my BIL is a family physician and was supposed to give her the shot while my sister was out of town with the baby and didn't. Since the baby was to to young to get it they had no choice but to postpone so they didn't run the risk he would get it from her shot. Instead it happened to her and she came down with the chicken pox right after we arrived in Florida. It made for an interesting trip not being able to take her anywhere , but there was also no way to isolate her. We didn't worry about the older kids because they had all been vaccinated . Well 14 days to the letter(the usual incubation period) my vaccinated DS got the chicken pox. I wasn't to upset about it as I figured now he would be 100% immune to it . He had an extremely light case with only about 75 pox most of which were on his back and chest. My DD was told to hug, kiss and whatever else her brother in the hopes that she would get it too. My poor 10 month old nephew, with no protection at all, of course got them. He had them so bad he must have had about 150 pox on just his poor little head. He was miserable and had a hard time eating as he had some in his mouth as well. I tried to expose my DD to him as much as possible as I was watching him for my sister while they were working. She has been exposed several more times since them and not gotten them so I think she is probably immune thanks to the shot and her many exposures. To me it didn't hurt my kids to have it and though my DS got them only about 3 years after his shot he had it mildly and wasn't really overly uncomfortable. Considering how badly my nephew got them without having had the shot, I'd do the shot no questions asked.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My husband nor myself have ever had the chicken pox. I vacinated my children in the hopes that they would not get them -- hence, we would not catch them from them.

My ds had his vaccine at his 1 year appointment. Six weeks later he broke out in chicken pox. The dr. said that there is a small percentage of children that get the pox from the vaccine --just our luck. It was a very mild case and he could possibly get them again later on.

My dd had the vacinne at her 18 month appointment. She broke out in a chicken pox like rash (blisters with tips) twice and was diagnosed with chicken pox both times by the pediatrician. When it happened a 3rd time (within 6 months), I took her to Urgent Care to find out that the rash was not chicken pox but excema. She has yet to had the real thing (but she's only 3).

My cousin's son had his at his 1 year well visit as well and when he went for his 6 year well visit he got the booster. My son turns 6 next week and his well visit is the following week -- I'll be curious to whether he gets the booster.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

Both my girls got the shots -- probably 3 or 4 years ago. No reaction to the shots.

 

[dis-happy]

My older two got CP naturally, and I've waited to get my younger ds the vaccine, hoping he would get a real case of it too. If not, I'll give him the vaccine around age 10.

My biggest concern is the lack of long term data and immunity. It's very dangerous for the baby when a pg. woman comes down with CP. I wonder what's going to happen when our dd's grow up, aren't completely immune, and come down with these secondary (even if mild cases) while pg. At least with a real case of CP you are covered for life.

I also noticed A LOT of anecdotal stories among my friends about shingles. This used to be what old people would sometimes get, now young children and young adults seem to be getting cases of it left and right. Just last week some official report on CP and vaccines said that it is also causing more cases of shingles, which is very painful. They are also updating the booster schedule---because of the lack of long term data they just don't know yet what is truly effective.

As a mom who has seen a lot of changes to vaccines over the years (my oldest is 18, my youngest is arriving this summer), take these recommendations with a grain of salt. You are your child's best advocate. As an example, I had to fight with a doctor a few years ago to get the injectible polio (he thought I was nuts for requesting it and yelled at me), now it is the sole recommended polio vaccine, due to dangers with the oral. A few years ago the rotovirus vaccine was about to be made mandatory when it was withdrawn due to child death from bowel obstructions. My honest ped at the time said it's a great vaccine for 3rd world contries, but in general children in the US don't die from rotovirus. I believe they are now coming out with a new version of this drug--will be interesting to see what happens with that. Hep B used to be given at 2-6 mos., now it is given at birth---unless there is a maternal risk, there's no reason not to wait, it is basically a sexually transmitted disease (bodily fluids, like hiv). You can always wait to have your child vaccinated, or split the vaccines up if you don't want them given all at once, or choose to skip. You are the parent and have the final say.

 

[moparop]

My older son got the vaccine right on schedule (12 months) and had a slight fever and was grumpy afterwards.

I plan on delaying it to 18 months with #2 because I have heard that it is more effective when given later and I want to spread the shots out more.

 

[kacaju]

my oldest was a baby when the shot first came out. At the time all our local papers were hyping it up so much... that this was the best thing for WORKING MOTHERS! Their reason was with the shot working mothers didn't need to take time off to care for their sick children.
I was (and still am) a SAHM so I didn't care and didn't vaccinate her.
By the time #2 came, #1 got chicken pox. I decided to wait with the second to see if she'd get it before she started school. Well then one year there was a huge outbreak of chicken pox in our town, everyone seemed to be getting it even kids who had the shot. #2 got it and gave it to our then 6 month old.
So, no need to worry about the shot any more.

 

[drivencrazy]

All 4 of my kids have had the shot!

My oldest got it right before she went to pre-school because she had to have it in order to go to school. At first I wasn't sure that I wanted her to have it, it was still pretty new, so we had her play with the neighbor girl how had chicken pox......she never got them. So she had the shot.

The only one that had a reaction was the youngest, she must have gotten the shot at 18 months (maybe sooner can't remember the age for sure). But she got one POX on her leg at the shot sight. The doctor took a look at it because that is one side effect that can happen but he had never seen it happen before. It didn't bother her any!

 

[linda0706]

My DD6 got the vaccine at the recommended time - can't remember how old now. She did not have any reaction.

She DID get chicken pox when she was 5 but it was a very mild case. (seems like half the kids in her school came down with it in a 1-2 month period!)

We just slathered her up with lotion & she was fine. It was not too terribly uncomfortable for her at all. I'm glad we did the vaccination.

 

[Becky2005]

Let's see my older 2 did not get the shot, my son ended up bringing it home to DD, so she got it before entering school.

My 3rd DS got the shot because it was required at that point to go to school.

My current DS who is 3 has not had the shot yet, if he doesn't have CP by the time he goes to school then he will get it.

My DD's case was much worse than my DS case of CP and I think it is because she was slightly older -- I can't even imagine a teen breaking out in CP how awful that will be (or an adult) because if my kids are like every other adult I know, there is no way they are going to go for booster shots for anything unless they are forced to for work.

 

[meandtheguys2]

No, we haven't done the CP vaccination. My two oldest caught an average case of chicken pox just like every person I've ever been around. If the youngest doesn't get them by the time he is 12ish. I might consider it. Depends.

 

[ohiominnie]

I did not...
When the vaccine first came out, my doc recommended against it because it does not offer lifetime immunity. If kids get the chicken pox, they have that lifetime immunity.

The tetanus shot doesn't offer lifetime immunity, but we give this to kids.
The measles shot doesn't offer lifetime immunity, but we give this to kids.

Having chicken pox does not offer lifetime immunity. I had it in 4th grade. And then I had a HORRIBLE case of it when I was in college.

Pre-chicken pox vaccine, thousands of kids each year were hospitalized with chicken pox. It is NOT a "rite of passage" of childhood. HUNDREDS died each year with complications such as flesh eating bacteria and encephalitis.

 

[ohiominnie]

At least with a real case of CP you are covered for life.
(snip)
A few years ago the rotovirus vaccine was about to be made mandatory when it was withdrawn due to child death from bowel obstructions.

As I said in my last post....you aren't necessarily immune to CP for life just because you had them once.

As for the rotovirus vaccine, there has been some interesting findings about it. I can't write them all here, but if you're interested in hearing some very straight forward, non-biased look at the research on this vaccine and many others, please check out www.pediacast.org You'll have to scroll through the episodes to find all of them that deal with immunizations.

 

[SnowWhite12]

My DD had it at the recommended age. She had no reaction at all. I never considered not giving it to her. I work for the largest school system in TN, and you can NOT attend school here without proof of all required immunizations. If you don't get the shot, you don't go to our public school system. Oh, and by the way, adults can get a booster for the chicken pox shot. My DH did because he had the shot when little, and never got the chicken pox. So he doesn't want to risk catching it from anyone because it can be deadly as an adult.

 

[pednurse]

I'm a mom and a pediatric nurse. Here's my opinion. My kids were both given the CP shot at 12 months. DD5 just went in for her check-up and got the booster (which they have just recently started recomening). I plan for DS9 to get it at his next check-up. I also had the shot when DS got his first one (I never had it as a child). I will be looking into whether or not adults need a booster at my own next check-up. It does not give 100% immunity to CP, but it GREATLY reduces the severity of it should the child contract it. Having taken care of many children who were hospitalized due to severe complications with CP prior to the vaccine coming along, I do not think it worth the risk to my own children to not be vaccinated and possibly end up with these complications. Complications and occasionally even death can and do occur due to the chicken pox. Therefore I feel that all children should be given the vaccine. It not only helps that child, but also helps prevent the spread of the disease to others. Neither of my children, nor I, had any kind of reaction to the vaccine....and the most common reaction is fever, which is true with just about every other vaccine we give to children. That's my 2 cents.

 

[ohiominnie]

My DH did because he had the shot when little, and never got the chicken pox. So he doesn't want to risk catching it from anyone because it can be deadly as an adult.

HUH? It came out about 12 yrs ago. I remember b/c dd (almost 13) was just turning 1 when it came out and I had to decide quickly if we'd get it with her 1 yr check up.


I'm not sure if the stats are still true, but about 5 yrs ago, chicken pox (the natural disease) was the #1 killer of children of vaccine preventable diseases.

 

[momsully]

DS8 and DS5 have both had the shots. DS5 just had a booster at his five year check up as Colorado is requiring the booster for entering Kindergarten. In Colorado I can waive the booster, but if there is a case of chicken pox at school DS would not be allowed to attend if he had not had the booster. We will probably booster DS8 at his next check up.

 

[pweyl36]

PLEASE - vaccinate your children. There are so many known cases of death and disibility from Chicken Pox (and other common infectious diseases) and virtually no documentable directly from the vaccines. While the vaccine may be new in the US, it was used in Japan with great success for 15 yrs before available here (so we got a defacto experiment in Japanese children). NO vaccines are for life, this is why kids get multiple shots into their college years and people need a tetanus every ten years. The only reason we don't continue to booster adults for all these diseases is that their incidence of exposure is so low after college.

In order for vaccination to eliminate these potential life-threatening disease, everyone needs to participate. Just look at Polio - it was eradicated in the US and is now enjoying a resurgance as people from other countries who don't routinely get the vaccine emmigrate here.

In addition, shingles is seen most often in immune-compromised adults and is a manifestation of a previous (usually childhood) infection. It can be deadly at worst, painful at best. If you never had chickenpox, you can't get shingles. Giving your kid chicken pox via a party doesn't make him/her immune, it makes them a life-long carrier of the virus (albeit a non-contagous one, until the shingles episode).

I know there is a lot of anecdotal evidence about kids getting autism, ADHD, etc from vaccines, but that is all it is. The peer-reviewed medical literature doesn't support this - and it's not some conspiracy. I have nothing to gain except the protection of my kids from infections that are so easily avoidable, but can be so deadly.

I agree,by not giving your children vaccines you are putting my children and everybody elses kids at risk. I my state (de) there is no wavier.No vaccines = no school.