Varicella vaccine: Share your thoughts/ DC's experience?

[ha98ed14]

DD is coming up on 1 y.o., so I am back to researching the next round of vaxs. I am going to do MMR, but I am confused about the effectiveness and side affects of varicella. Can anyone share their child's experience?

For background, I did HiB, Prevnar and DTaP at the prescribed 2,4,6 mo intervals, but skipped Rota, Hep B, and Polio. Plan to do polio in the future, but since it seemed like the least likely, I thought it could wait.

[brittone2]

I'd prefer my children acquire natural immunity.

I never got CP as a child. I had my titre done when I was in highschool and it showed no immunity. I was one of the first people to get the CP vax when I was 17/18. Years later I saw the recommendations were changed to two vaxes as one dose was still resulting in many people getting CP. I was working as a physical therapist at the time, including w/ immune compromised children. I would have had to stop working, because the 2nd shot could shed and exposed immune compromised kids. I had my titre re-checked before getting pg and it showed enough immunity according to the doc I was seeing at the time. I now have no idea how long I'll be immune. I did have exposure to several kids with CP while I was working, which is thought to be a natural booster, so maybe that will help.

IMO, this is a case of pushing a childhood disease into adulthood, where it can be far more serious. I'm not 100 percent convinced that even w/ two rounds of vaccine that all children are immune. I've known far too many people that had kids that contracted varicella despite being fully vaccinated, and they weren't necessarily mild cases. I'm not convinced that we know how long we can rely on vaccine induced immunity. I'm not convinced that varicella won't mutate into other forms. There was an outbreak in a highschool a year or two ago and all of the kids were fully vaxed, and they couldn't trace the outbreak back to even one nonvaxed kid. It will always circulate IMO, and you'll always have people that aren't fully boostered, or are fully vaxed and still contract it.

I realize that CP carries the risk of sepsis, encephalitis, etc. I do believe that these are rare, and the vaccine in rare cases can lead to complications as well.

I feel that as this generation of kids ages, you'll have people that are no longer immune getting CP and having serious complications. Even if you believe the vaccine is maximally effective, you'll always have people that don't respond well to it, or don't get adequate boosters. I'm not convinced all of the boosters in the world are an adequate substitute for naturally acquired immunity.

I'm concerned about kids contracting it in adulthood as their vax-induced immunity wanes.

I'm stuck in a personal conundrum of not having had natural immunity and having to rely on vax-induced immunity, and the uncertainty of how effective that immunity is (and for how long it will last).

Obviously you'll want to do your own research and make the decision that best suits your own family.


nak and edited to fix some typos/clarify info. Also wanted to say I can probably dig up some info/studies for you but will it is tough w/ DD sleeping in my lap. I'll try to do so in the coming days.

[JBaxter]

Doesnt work at my house. My 2 oldest boys had the vaccine both had whopping cases of chicken pox about 2 1/2 yrs later. A little boy in the church I go to had his vaccine at his 1 yr check up and ended up with full blown chicken pox 10 days later. He also gave it to a couple younger babies in the church nursery.

[lisams]

With DS we're going to wait until he's older. If he acquires natural immunity that will be great. If not, we'll vaccinate him. I'm thinking around 6-7 years old we'll test him for Varicella and a few others and go from there.

[KrisM]

I'd prefer my children acquire natural immunity.

I never got CP as a child. I had my titre done when I was in highschool and it showed no immunity. I was one of the first people to get the CP vax when I was 17/18. Years later I saw the recommendations were changed to two vaxes as one dose was still resulting in many people getting CP. I was working as a physical therapist at the time, including w/ immune compromised children. I would have had to stop working, because the 2nd shot could shed and exposed immune compromised kids. I had my titre re-checked before getting pg and it showed enough immunity according to the doc I was seeing at the time. I now have no idea how long I'll be immune. I did have exposure to several kids with CP while I was working, which is thought to be a natural booster, so maybe that will help.

IMO, this is a case of pushing a childhood disease into adulthood, where it can be far more serious. I'm not 100 percent convinced that even w/ two rounds of vaccine that all children are immune. I've known far too many people that had kids that contracted varicella despite being fully vaccinated, and they weren't necessarily mild cases. I'm not convinced that we know how long we can rely on vaccine induced immunity. I'm not convinced that varicella won't mutate into other forms. There was an outbreak in a highschool a year or two ago and all of the kids were fully vaxed, and they couldn't trace the outbreak back to even one nonvaxed kid. It will always circulate IMO, and you'll always have people that aren't fully boostered, or are fully vaxed and still contract it.

I realize that CP carries the risk of sepsis, encephalitis, etc. I do believe that these are rare, and the vaccine in rare cases can lead to complications as well.

I feel that as this generation of kids ages, you'll have people that are no longer immune getting CP and having serious complications. Even if you believe the vaccine is maximally effective, you'll always have people that don't respond well to it, or don't get adequate boosters. I'm not convinced all of the boosters in the world are an adequate substitute for naturally acquired immunity.

I'm concerned about kids contracting it in adulthood as their vax-induced immunity wanes.

I'm stuck in a personal conundrum of not having had natural immunity and having to rely on vax-induced immunity, and the uncertainty of how effective that immunity is (and for how long it will last).

Obviously you'll want to do your own research and make the decision that best suits your own family.


nak and edited to fix some typos/clarify info. Also wanted to say I can probably dig up some info/studies for you but will it is tough w/ DD sleeping in my lap. I'll try to do so in the coming days.

This is pretty much our thoughts, too.

[KrystalS]

My DD got the vaccine when she was 1. She was exposed to CP when she was about 3.5 and got a very, very mild case. She had about 6 spots. The doctor told me it would have been much worse if she hadn't been vaccinated.
I don't really know much about not immunizing because my DD has gotten all hers when doctors recommend, but I just thought I would give my experience.

[schums]

You might want to check out the requirements for schools when deciding on a age to test him. In MI, you have to have 2 doses of CP vaccine to start kindergarden. I'm not sure if you can selectly not immunize here -- I know you can claim religious exemption if you don't immunize at all, but I don't think you can pick and choose which shots you give and still get into school.

[brittone2]

There are people that file a religious exemption (or philosophical, if available in their state) and still partially vax. They just don't disclose which shots were and were not given. It is an option some parents choose to pursue.

[lisams]

You might want to check out the requirements for schools when deciding on a age to test him. In MI, you have to have 2 doses of CP vaccine to start kindergarden. I'm not sure if you can selectly not immunize here -- I know you can claim religious exemption if you don't immunize at all, but I don't think you can pick and choose which shots you give and still get into school.

It's not a problem here in AZ. You sign a waiver. Actually, DS is starting a mom and toddler program which requires vaccination proof and all we had to do was sign the state's waiver and turn it in. Same for when he starts elementary school.

Now, if measles or something happens to make it's way into our school and he isn't vaccinated, they have the right to tell us we can't come until there are no confirmed cases if he isn't vaccinated at that time. I can deal with that, and totally understand the need to do so.