vaccine for chicken pox
By fabwisp
@fabwisp (1327)
January 31, 2007 7:24am CST
This is related to my other post on the subject. In my area the vaccine is only available to high risk people, pregnant, elderly, those with aids etc. Do you think that it should be a widely given vaccine along with all the rest our children get? I think that if a child does not have chicken pox by the age of 15/16 they should be tested and if not immune given the vaccine to prevent them getting when older and causing complications. I live in the UK and would be interested to know how it works in other countries.
2 people like this
4 responses
@michelledarcy (5220)
•
31 Jan 07
I don't think there should be a vaccine for Chicken Pox. Before there was one for measles it wasn't a killer diesease and now has made itself stronger against the vaccine and is much more dangerous.
2 people like this
@lauriefnp (5111)
• United States
31 Jan 07
In the U.S. the chicken pox vaccine is given as part of the routine immunizations children receive before going to school. I can't remember the age when it's given, but it's when they are babies. I think that it should be available and given to all children, and I can't believe that it's not in the U.K. When we have a safe and effective vaccine to prevent a disease, why would it not be given? It's not in short supply, and I have never heard that it is priced outrageously. Preventing kids from getting the chicken pox and from spreading it to others who are at risk seems to be the reasonable solution to the problem. Although chicken pox is just an annoyance for most healthy kids, it can be devastating if contracted by someone with AIDS, other medical conditions, or cancer patients.
1 person likes this
@nitsy_s (1028)
• India
22 Feb 07
I was the first to get chickenpox in my family when i was around 12, then it spread to my brother and my mom... My father dint contract it because he had got it when he was a kid. That time I dint know about any vaccine that was available. Everyone here had a feeling that u have to get chicken pox once in ur lifetime.
@mememama (3076)
• United States
21 Feb 07
In America, it's on the recommended schedule to be vaccinated against chicken pox at the age of 1. The big problem with this vaccine is that it wears off. Most people will tell you that they don't get their booster shots as adults, I know I haven't. So when this wears off, you could be an adult, and this will be terrible to have as an adult. It's better to have natural immunity, to catch chicken pox as a child. Yes, it's uncomfortable, I've had it, but I only have a few scars on my knees from picking at the pox. Plus, no vaccine is 100% effective, so where my sister sends her children to daycare-the vaccinated kids are spreading chicken pox to other vaccinated kids-so what is the point of this? I think if my son doesn't catch it as a child, I will get his tithers (I can't spell that) checked and decide from there if he should get the vaccine. We get religious exemptions for him to go to school (it's not really mandatory) because we don't agree with aborted fetal cells being used in vaccines.
