My baby had her shot for this the 17th of Jan - and as she loves to say, ~tada~ we now have one chicken pox on the back of her head and what looks like the start of another on her forehead.

Anyone else here get the pox from the vaccine?

If so was it much milder than the regular case?

I have called the doctors office and they acted like this was no big deal.

It makes me uneasy.

By Dana on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 - 01:53 pm:

I've heard it is pretty common to get them, but it should be a milder case. Hope that is the case for yours

By Candace on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 - 01:56 pm:

We didn't want our DS to have the vaccine. We wanted him to get a good case of the chicken pox. Well, at his 2 yr checkup (he is now 3 1/2) the Doc said he will have to have the vaccine to start school. So, we decided to give it to him then. He did not get any reaction to the vaccine and I don't know anyone whose child developed chicken pox from the vaccine. I have heard it is possible and that it is usually a milder case if they do get them later on. The reason we didn't want him to have the vaccine was because my husband got the chicken pox for the first and only time in college and was hospitalized because it was such a bad case of them. For the most part it is a mild child illness and fairly easy to deal with when a child gets it. That was just our honest opinion. I hope I helped some.

By Babysitbarb on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 - 02:17 pm:

My daughters are almost 14 and 10 and they have not had the chicken pox yet. They have been exposed many times but still haven't gotten them. I run a Daycare and the local Preschool has a couple children who have them now. 3 of the kids I babysit for go to the Preschool. I have thought about getting my girls the vaccine but, Most people I have talked to that their children has had the vaccine got the chicken pox anyways. What to do?

By Jenn on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 - 02:31 pm:

I have my 2 kids. DD is 4 and DS is 2. I am one of the parents that will not get the shot. I have so many reasons that I could right a book to explain. I purchased a book called the Vaccine Guide, and it has so much stuff in their about shots. Good and Bad. It also tells you ways that you can sign your children up for school and if you do not want your child to get the shot for certain reasons, how you may handle it the legal way. My DD had a lot of BAD reactions to certain shots, so this is one of my reasons why I am so big into getting the facts and all the literature about the shots before my DK's get them.

By Lieska on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 - 02:42 pm:

Claire I have heard of that too. I don't think it is uncommon. I guess every time she gets another one just let her cheer you up by saying "tada"

Since she was vaccinated her case should be pretty mild.

Good luck!

By Claire on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 - 05:04 pm:

The reason we opted for the vaccine was the fact that my older two children had severe cases with complications. We thought it would be best to have a mild case and possibility of needing boosters. It was not a decision we made lightly or without research

By Kathym on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 - 07:38 pm:

I opted for the vaccine for my son because my middle had such a severe case...after you have had one child suffer through two weeks of fever, itching and just plain misery you cannot run fast enough for the vaccine. I do know, first hand, of a child who had the vaccine and then got a pretty good "dose" of the chicken pox. Nothing dangerous but more severe than you would think for a child who had the vaccine. The doctor did tell her mom she was an unusual case. My son had the vaccine at one..he will turn 5 soon and so far so good.

By Annie2 on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 - 09:38 pm:

My two oldest kids had their vaccines this summer. They were 11 and 8 at the time. I wanted them to contract the pox when they were young, but after numerous exposures, they never came down with a breakout. Honestly, I think they were exposed several times, at different stages of the pox and built up a natural resistance. But I did not want to take a chance of them contracting the illness later on in their lives, worst case, getting shingles.
My other dd had hers with her five year old booster shot and son had it when he was a toddler.
My kids never broke out with any typical pox lesions however my son had something called
Molluscum Contagiosum. It is from the same strain as the chicen pox. They are small, flesh colored pimple-like bumps on his torso. They last for several months , turn red like an inflamed pimple for about a day, then disappear without a scar.
He would have about five at a time. A child can have much more severe cases. You can find information about them on the web. They didn't itch or were very noticable, except to me of course.
I don't know if they were from the vaccine or not. He is now five now and doesn't have anymore.
I am a strong believer of vaccines. I think the benefits far out weigh the risks.
I know in my state of FL, the vaccine will be mandatory for school in the fall of 2003.

By Karen55 on Thursday, February 6, 2003 - 05:40 pm:

How is KM today??

By Anonymous on Friday, February 7, 2003 - 10:23 am:

I used to be a strong believer of vacinnes. That whole statement the benefits outweigh the risks, is true unless it is your child! I can say that our last round of shots with my last child has been the worst experience of my life. He has suffered mercury poisoning due to the MMR shot. We are in the process of contemplating legal action, etc. We were really gung ho on doing so, but in the past year manafacturers have removed the mercury from their vacinnes, so now it mostly seems like a mute point. I can say though I am angry, I felt like these were safe, I had done my fair share of reading and researching and the facts stated pretty much lead you to believe the only kids who have reactions are ones who probably had an issue any way. Well this is my third child and I have well documented how completely normal he was until this round of shot, he had no issues, now we deal with a child on the autism spectrum.

By Babysitbarb on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 02:04 pm:

We'll one of the kids that I baby-sit for came down with the chicken Pox over the weekend so we will have to wait and see if any of the others due. They have all been exposed even my girls so maybe they will get them this time.I'm not sure I like the new border because it's to close to the words and makes it hard to read. I like it otherwise

By Anonymous on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 12:07 am:

My kids have all been vaccinated for chicken pox. So far so good! I did the research and read the statistics etc., and decided to go ahead with the chicken pox vaccine. Of course, I'm sure it's not fool proof, but I agree with whoever it was that said the benefits far outweigh the risks. Chicken pox are getting worse as time goes on, which is the main reason for the vaccine. Pox is causing blindness in children that get them in their eyes and numerous other problems. I just hope and pray that my kids don't get bad reactions from their vaccine shots. But for now, I feel like I should choose the solution with the best odds for my kiddies! How is your baby doing now Claire? Has she broken out pretty badly? Hope she is feeling ok! I've heard also that a minor breakout after the vaccine is common and nothing to be alarmend by, unless other things just don't seem right.

By Claire on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 01:34 pm:

Anon, she is doing well now - she ended up only getting three pox. I knew she could have a minor breakout but it still threw me a little so I was just wondering if it had happened to anyone else here. They never bothered her at all.

I went with the vaccine in large part because my older children had horrible cases with some potentially very serious complications

I am sure at some point we may have to do a booster shot or two but imho it was worth the shot for her not to have to go through what they did or potentially something much worse.