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This is hilarious. Most of Western Europe does not vaccinate against chickenpox. https://vaccine-schedule.ecdc.europa.eu/Scheduler/ByDisease?SelectedDiseaseId=

This is hilarious. Most of Western Europe does not vaccinate against chickenpox. https://vaccine-schedule.ecdc.europa.eu/Scheduler/ByDisease?SelectedDiseaseId=11&SelectedCountryIdByDisease=-1 https://vaccine-schedule.ecdc.europa.eu/Scheduler/ByDisease?... There are 600,000 cases every year just in the UK, but the Washington Post doesn't even bother mentioning that there is a disagreement between national health organizations about the cost benefit trade-off of vaccinating against chickenpox.

RobertRoberts 8y ago
You are getting voted down, but I _wanted_ all my kids to get chicken pox. We tried to get them together with other kids that have it so they could get it. Everyone got chicken pox decades ago, it was expected. No one cared. Why does anyone care now?
- jesseb 8y ago
  Because Shingles is awful, for one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingles
  - RobertRoberts 8y ago
    This is _exactly_ the reason why we wanted our kids to get chicken pox! Or at least that is the story we have all been told. I know personally at least 3 elderly people that have had shingles (or do right now) that had chicken pox as kids.
    - shepardrtc 8y ago
      You misunderstand. Shingles are a resurgence of chickenpox when you're old and your immune system is too weak to fight it off. Chickenpox is herpes. It hides in your body, but as long as you're healthy, your immune system doesn't have much issue fighting it off. When you get old, then it can come back and be potentially deadly.
      - RobertRoberts 8y ago
        But don't vaccines make your immune system stronger to fight off diseases?
        deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
    - cmurf 8y ago
      That's the wrong logic. Getting chickenpox disease makes shingles possible, as the body replicates the virus and then it lies dormant to become reactivated decades later as shingles. If you avoid chickenpox disease through vaccination, you have a 50/50 chance of avoiding shingles entirely and if you do still get it, it will be milder because there was less replication when you had chickenpox. http://www.nfid.org/publications/factsheets/varicellaadult.pdf http://www.nfid.org/publications/factsheets/varicellaadult.p... Getting chickenpox on purpose is not as good or better than getting vaccinated for it.
      - RobertRoberts 8y ago
        This has been the logic up until the day a chicken pox vaccine was created. Some people have worse reactions to vaccines than just scars and itching.
  - oldgradstudent 8y ago
    Shingles and adult chickenpox are the reasons the UK National Health Service does not vaccinate against chickenpox. https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/why-are-children-in-the-uk-not-vaccinated-against-chickenpox/ https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/... They do vaccinate pregnant women who never got chickenpox and people with weakened immune system, though.
    - jesseb 8y ago
      That's quite interesting, my government recommends people (specifically children it seems, however) get the vaccination. I'll have to read into that, thanks for the link. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization/vaccine-preventable-diseases/varicella-chickenpox.html https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization...
- shepardrtc 8y ago
  Chickenpox can be deadly: https://www.cdc.gov/features/preventchickenpox/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/features/preventchickenpox/index.html Please read up on diseases before you try to infect your children with them.
  - RobertRoberts 8y ago
    Again, _everyone_ got it when we were kids. You can die of a cold if your body is weak enough.
    - shepardrtc 8y ago
      But there is now a vaccine that can prevent it. One which has no other side effects. There is no reason not to get it.
    - dhimes 8y ago
      I was raised as you were regarding this. However, I did have my kids vaccinated against chicken pox. Probably because my wife was researching the herpes virus at the time (she's a doc) and insisted.
    - Tepix 8y ago
      A few people probably died.
    - cmurf 8y ago
      Repeating yourself doesn't make it sound any less ignorant. You are not a good parent in 2018 if you're intentionally getting your kid sick with chickenpox instead of getting them vaccinated instead. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/index.html It is an ACIP recommended vaccine for at least a decade, which means all state Mediciad recipients can get it for free or for a low cost co-pay. There is no good reason why any child is getting chickenpox today.
      - bane 8y ago
        Right, it's only been on the childhood vaccine schedule for 10 years. Most people don't know that nor that there's even a vaccine available for it. Chickenpox is such a mild childhood event that it's widely just assumed that your children just need to get infected with it and a week later they have lifetime immunity. Something like 95% of all adults today had Chickenpox as a child and most people have probably forgotten the event. 10 years for a vaccine against a generally mild week long childhood rash is not really enough time or importance to enter the general public consciousness and it's not really a sin to get your kids infected with it. You're judging billions of people with your own ignorance of their lives.
- cromwellian 8y ago
  I had chickenpox as a kid and I would never wish it on my children. Besides being absolutely miserable for a week and having to sit in a tub or shower all day to avoid the itch, it left lifelong scars on my forehead and other areas.
  - bane 8y ago
    Pretty much everybody born before 1984 had it (I've seen numbers as high as 95% of all adults). It was common practice to infect your children with it during a certain "safe" age range where it was just a miserable week long rash rather than a life-threatening event. There was no vaccine until then and it definitely wasn't common practice to use it on the childhood vaccine schedule until much later. Most adults having children now may not even know the vaccine exists and just assume their children will have to go through a week of the pox to get them immunity.

RobertRoberts 8y ago

You are getting voted down, but I _wanted_ all my kids to get chicken pox. We tried to get them together with other kids that have it so they could get it. Everyone got chicken pox decades ago, it was expected. No one cared. Why does anyone care now?

jesseb 8y ago
Because Shingles is awful, for one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingles
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  This is _exactly_ the reason why we wanted our kids to get chicken pox! Or at least that is the story we have all been told. I know personally at least 3 elderly people that have had shingles (or do right now) that had chicken pox as kids.
  - shepardrtc 8y ago
    You misunderstand. Shingles are a resurgence of chickenpox when you're old and your immune system is too weak to fight it off. Chickenpox is herpes. It hides in your body, but as long as you're healthy, your immune system doesn't have much issue fighting it off. When you get old, then it can come back and be potentially deadly.
    - RobertRoberts 8y ago
      But don't vaccines make your immune system stronger to fight off diseases?
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
  - cmurf 8y ago
    That's the wrong logic. Getting chickenpox disease makes shingles possible, as the body replicates the virus and then it lies dormant to become reactivated decades later as shingles. If you avoid chickenpox disease through vaccination, you have a 50/50 chance of avoiding shingles entirely and if you do still get it, it will be milder because there was less replication when you had chickenpox. http://www.nfid.org/publications/factsheets/varicellaadult.pdf http://www.nfid.org/publications/factsheets/varicellaadult.p... Getting chickenpox on purpose is not as good or better than getting vaccinated for it.
    - RobertRoberts 8y ago
      This has been the logic up until the day a chicken pox vaccine was created. Some people have worse reactions to vaccines than just scars and itching.
- oldgradstudent 8y ago
  Shingles and adult chickenpox are the reasons the UK National Health Service does not vaccinate against chickenpox. https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/why-are-children-in-the-uk-not-vaccinated-against-chickenpox/ https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/... They do vaccinate pregnant women who never got chickenpox and people with weakened immune system, though.
  - jesseb 8y ago
    That's quite interesting, my government recommends people (specifically children it seems, however) get the vaccination. I'll have to read into that, thanks for the link. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization/vaccine-preventable-diseases/varicella-chickenpox.html https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization...
shepardrtc 8y ago
Chickenpox can be deadly: https://www.cdc.gov/features/preventchickenpox/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/features/preventchickenpox/index.html Please read up on diseases before you try to infect your children with them.
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  Again, _everyone_ got it when we were kids. You can die of a cold if your body is weak enough.
  - shepardrtc 8y ago
    But there is now a vaccine that can prevent it. One which has no other side effects. There is no reason not to get it.
  - dhimes 8y ago
    I was raised as you were regarding this. However, I did have my kids vaccinated against chicken pox. Probably because my wife was researching the herpes virus at the time (she's a doc) and insisted.
  - Tepix 8y ago
    A few people probably died.
  - cmurf 8y ago
    Repeating yourself doesn't make it sound any less ignorant. You are not a good parent in 2018 if you're intentionally getting your kid sick with chickenpox instead of getting them vaccinated instead. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/index.html It is an ACIP recommended vaccine for at least a decade, which means all state Mediciad recipients can get it for free or for a low cost co-pay. There is no good reason why any child is getting chickenpox today.
    - bane 8y ago
      Right, it's only been on the childhood vaccine schedule for 10 years. Most people don't know that nor that there's even a vaccine available for it. Chickenpox is such a mild childhood event that it's widely just assumed that your children just need to get infected with it and a week later they have lifetime immunity. Something like 95% of all adults today had Chickenpox as a child and most people have probably forgotten the event. 10 years for a vaccine against a generally mild week long childhood rash is not really enough time or importance to enter the general public consciousness and it's not really a sin to get your kids infected with it. You're judging billions of people with your own ignorance of their lives.
cromwellian 8y ago
I had chickenpox as a kid and I would never wish it on my children. Besides being absolutely miserable for a week and having to sit in a tub or shower all day to avoid the itch, it left lifelong scars on my forehead and other areas.
- bane 8y ago
  Pretty much everybody born before 1984 had it (I've seen numbers as high as 95% of all adults). It was common practice to infect your children with it during a certain "safe" age range where it was just a miserable week long rash rather than a life-threatening event. There was no vaccine until then and it definitely wasn't common practice to use it on the childhood vaccine schedule until much later. Most adults having children now may not even know the vaccine exists and just assume their children will have to go through a week of the pox to get them immunity.