Chook Me!

What are the arguments against chicken pox vaccination?

My 9-year old kid is very healthy and disease resistant and has not had chicken pox or the vaccination.

Public Comments

1. I had to have it....it really HURT. But it beats getting chicken pox later in life when it could be much more severe. That's all I know about it.
2. My older two children have had chicken pox- both did just fine. Everyone from my age group had chicken pox as a kid- we never heard about ANYONE having a life threatening situation from it. My younger two children haven't had the vaccine, or the chicken pox... I am waiting until they reach puberty and the disease would hit them harder to decide to vaccinate for it. Many of my friends vaccinated their children and they still got the disease- more than once!. If you have an immune-compromised family member (including extended family that you live close to) I would recommend it because it can be deadly to THEM if your child got it and passed it on to them. But, otherwise, choose your battles, and your vaccinations-
3. "Very healthy and disease resistant"??? What is he - a genetic experiment? Your kid has been lucky to not be sick. I'm not sure why you need arguments AGAINST having your child vaccinated, but here's some reason why your child SHOULD be vaccinated. A) Because chickenpox is very contagious, it is possible for people who have never had chickenpox nor been vaccinated against it to become infected just by being in a room with someone who has the disease. B) Adolescents or adults are more likely to have complications from chickenpox than children. People who have trouble fighting infections are especially at risk for problems. This includes people being treated for cancer with chemotherapy or radiation, people who use steroids for other medical conditions, and people who have HIV infection. Possible complications are pneumonia or problems with the kidneys, heart, or joints. The nervous system may be affected, which may cause irritation and swelling in the brain (meningitis or encephalitis) or other types of nervous system problems. Sometimes an infection of the skin develops because bacteria get into sores when they are scratched. (even if your child does not currently have trouble fighting infections, that may change as he gets older, not having him vaccinated NOW puts him at risk later) C) Males (both boys and men) have a higher risk for a severe case of chickenpox than females. Children who catch chickenpox from family members are likely to have a more severe case than if they caught it outside the home. The older the child the higher the risk for a more severe case. Additionally, colleges are once again asking for proof of vaccination for certain diseases. Meningitis and measles have had recent outbreaks across some campuses, students can easily bring chicken pox onto the campus if a family memeber has it. Why put your kid at risk for a disease that can be so easily prevented. It's like saying my kid can have unprotected sex and won't be at risk for AIDS because he's "Very healthy and disease resistant"
4. It's not even necessary because almost no child suffers any life-threatening complications from getting chicken pox. Even without the vaccine, it does good for the immune system because the child will never get it again. < Some parents even have "pox parties" where they bring their kids to play with someone who has chicken pox so their own kids will catch it, believe it or not (I know it's kinda gross, but some do it) Not only that, I'm sick and tired of them always pushing their vaccines and pills and whatever on children and people. And vaccines for diseases that aren't even life threatening! Then a little while later, they'll say something's wrong with the vaccine and go back and tell you to get another one. Some people still get it when they've been vaccinated... The only risk is to the adults and seniors, who are affected more severely if they catch it later in life. But the percentage is below minimal.
5. I have also held back on getting this one vaccine for you younger two children (they are 4 and 7 and my oldest had it as a little one) for the following reasons: 1. Lifetime immunity is NOT confirmed. This was proven when about a year ago it was reccommended all people who had been given the vaccine get it again due to not knowing how long it would last. 2. Chicken pox is very rarely a serious illness in children or adults (see following point for exception) and the immune system does benefit by fighting this..in the long run it does make us stronger. 3. The exception to point two is pregnant females. In their case, it IS seriously lifethreatening and very often results in death of both the mother and baby...I know this first hand. This is the primary reason you are told NOT to bring your children to the doctor when they have chicken pox....there may be a expectant mother in the waiting area. With the above in mind, I'm going to do everything in my power to have my daughter develope natural immunity to this virus which STILL isn't 100% but it's a damn site better than the unknowns that exist with the vaccine. Even our family doctor had to agree with my point on this one. The ONLY advantage I can see to this vaccine is it may help to ward off Shingles as an older person. All of my children have been vaccinated for all serious lifethreatning illnesses.
6. The CDC admits that children don't die from chicken pox per se, but rather "complications" from chicken pox. But what they don't say is that these complications are all derived from acute blood toxemia established by the very treatments used by allopathic physicians. So strictly speaking, all children that die, do so from the allopathic medical treatments that are used to treat the symptoms that accompany chicken pox. There has never been a recorded death among the many thousands of children treated Hygienically, and without drugs. What does the CDC list as the most common complication? Pneumonia and secondary bacterial infections (caused by the antibiotics). Other complications, according to the CDC, include encephalitis (inflamed brain tissue mostly from the antipyretics), hemorrhagic complications (such as intestinal bleeding, are the most common symptoms of aspirin-an anticoagulant, or "blood thinner"), hepatitis (congested and inflamed liver caused by the antipyretics), arthritis (decalcification of bone for the calcium needed to neutralize acidic blood, mostly caused by the aspirin), and Reye's syndrome (most commonly associated with giving aspirin to children that have chicken pox or influenza). Like aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs, acetaminophen (ie. Tylenol) will also burden the liver and kidneys and check the vital actions of the body to discharge waste from the blood. Acetaminophen poisoning is also common because it throws the chemistry of the liver off. In fact, it is the most common drug-induced cause of liver failure. It depletes hepatic glutathione, causing the toxic metabolite NAPQI to fail to conjugate, which leads to hepatic injury, and sometimes death. Therefore, to say that "death is a complication of chicken pox", is like saying, "bleeding is a complication of holding a knife in your hand": each event is neither contingent nor a consequence of the preceding one. Their association is artificial; requiring specific intervening actions to take place. In cases of chicken pox, actions that are in accord and mandated by standard medical practice. To promote the vaccine, the CDC proclaims that, "varicella (chicken pox) is the leading cause of vaccine-preventable deaths in children in the United States." But while the deaths are certainly preventable, they have nothing to do with the failure to vaccinate
7. Everyone has good points but here is my concern. Your child is 9 and has not had either the vaccine or chickenpox. So he is at risk of getting chickenpox -- he can get it from a child with a mild case (which happens occasionally after teh vaccine), a full blown case or he could get it from an adult who has shingles. Everyone who has had either the chickenpox or the vaccine is at risk for shingles; however, your child would end up with chickenpox instead of shingles. If you are not going to get your child vaccinated, you need to expose him IMMEDIATELY. The older he gets without having it, the more complications he could have. In addition, it seems like the older you are the more likely you are to scar from the poxes. I have had patients in their teens who have been hospitalized with chickenpox because their grandparents had shingles; most young children do not have to be. You are going to have to do one or the other; inaction is not an option in this situation. Either choice is acceptable.
8. I would say that I am against the chickenpox vaccine. One of the reasons is that it uses a cell line from aborted fetuses: http://www.whale.to/v/fetal.html Ingredients: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf Look up MRC-5 which is listed as an ingredient to the chickenpox vaccine. Another reason is that vaccines only offer temporary "immunity". So this means that if the boosters are not followed up with when the child becomes a teenager... then they could get it still. It is better to have chickenpox as a child because it is less severe. Once they get it naturally, then they usually have lifetime immunity. Plus it has a lot of chemicals in it that might not be so healthy.