[Magdalen] Chicken pox

[Sally Davies]

The vaccine came out here shortly before both my boys caught chicken pox
from the grandson of a friend after a beach outing.  The older one wasn't
too bad - he got a light dose from brief contact with the other child - but
Evan who was about 18 months at the time, was very ill for a day or two
with high fever, having picked up a much bigger 'viral load' from the
lengthier contact with his brother.

When I realised Donal had the pox I had Evan vaccinated but it was too
late.

As Jay says, the worst danger of the anti-vax (actually anti-science)
attitude is the spread of whooping cough which was at one stage more or
less contained but isn't any longer thanks to parents who easily could have
their kids vaccinated but choose not to. That is a really lethal illness.

I do agree about not having too much in one go though. Donal had his first
really big convulsion a short while after receiving his "triple" MMR
vaccine. The cause was "baby measles" (Roseola), but at that stage he
hadn't shown any symptoms, the rash came out a couple of days later. The
vaccines can now be given separately and that does seem better though it
means more jabs. He wasn't able to breathe for a bit and it was the most
terrifying experience for us, as we thought he'd had an anaphylactic
reaction.

I still can't watch little kids getting injections, especially if they're
young enough not to know what's going to happen. It's more upsetting to the
adults than to the kids I reckon!

Sally

On Sunday, December 27, 2015, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com> wrote:

> I know, Jo, I know!  But in this area there are lots of
> unvaccinated--because homeschooled--kids. There's no way to make those
> parents vaccinate their kids, if they don't want to.
>
> > On Dec 26, 2015, at 6:47 PM, Jo Craddock <jocraddock at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >
> > Oh, yeah? That's only because the rest of us effin' vaccinated... <grrr>
> >
> > Peace,
> > Jo <-- whose children just missed cpox vaccine availability and were
> *miserable* but otherwise unharmed, TBTG and scientists
> >
> >
> >> On 12/26/2015 4:14 PM, Grace Cangialosi wrote:
> >> This is the first "childhood disease" any of the kids have
> gotten--we're talking five kids over 23 years, so I know he has felt
> vindicated.
> >
>