This is one of the commonest comments from Parents:
I think it is better for my child to get Chickenpox. We all went through it and it is more natural that way!
But I have never heard a parent say something like,
I think it is better for my child to get Meningitis or
I think it is better for my child to get Polio.
I think the main reason is that most unlike Meningitis or Polio where there might be long term serious disabilities, most parents assume that Chickenpox has no long term effects on the child.
But is this assumption true and what are the facts?
The fact is that in most cases Chickenpox is a mild disease and most children recover without long lasting effects, BUT in some cases Chickenpox can cause long term disabilities and even death.
Why you should consider vaccinating your child:
A few points for you to think about:
1. There is a small chance that your child might develop serious complications like long term brain damage from chickenpox encephalitis (brain infection) or might even die from widespread chickenpox infection. An article published in the Singapore Medical Journal gives 8 cases of chickenpox complications. (Click Here) One child died, another was left with poor memory and behavioural changes. The rest although fully recovered, went through the illness with neurological problems such that they lost their sense of balance and there are also some who suffered from kidney problems during the length of the illness.
2. Consider the child pictured above who is one of my patients. He unfortunately had chicken pox as a baby and was left with a line of chicken pox marks on his face. You might think this is only a small thing, but he certainly was very sensitive about having his picture taken, which is why he tried to cover his face with his hand. The scars are having an impact on his sense of self esteem.
3. If the child has chickenpox, it would be a week long illness where the child will be uncomfortable and also infectious. Inevitably the people whom the child have contacted prior to the illness will start to panic and wonder if their own kids have contracted chickenpox. I even had one pregnant lady who was so worried that she would get chickenpox. If you vaccinate your child against chickenpox, then you really don't have to worry about these things.
4. In adulthood, chickenpox can be very severe with the lesions covering the entire body and face. If your child does not contract chickenpox as a child, he may still get it during adulthood.
Here is another common misconception:
Even if I vaccinate my child, he will still get Chickenpox!
If this were really the case, why would we even give Chickenpox vaccinations?
The fact is:
Children who have been vaccinated have a 75%-85% chance of protection against Chickenpox and the ones who still get it have a milder disease.
One of my patients asked me:
If I get vaccinated against Chickenpox, I will get Shingles later in life!
Quite the opposite is true! And this is another reason why you should consider vaccinating against Chickenpox.
Shingles, better known in Singapore as "Seh Zhua" (Snake) is a reactivation of the chickenpox virus when the immune system is weakened. When one suffers from an episode of chickenpox, some of the virus take up residence in the body and lie domant until something occurs to reactivate it.
When you vaccinate yourself or your child against chickenpox, you are essentially giving your body a deactivated virus which does not cause chickenpox, but is still recognized by the body as chickenpox. Thus the body's immune system arms itself against this particular virus and stores the information in memory. The next time when the body gets exposed to the real chickenpox virus, it mounts an effective response so that the chickenpox virus does not have any chance of replicating in the body and causing the chickenpox symptoms.
So if you never get chickenpox, you will not be harbouring the virus in your body and thus will not get Shingles later in life.
More information on Shingles may be found by clicking this
Chickenpox is a disease that can be avoided. There is no compelling reason NOT to vaccinate yourself or your children. So please consider the facts and make an informed decision on your family's health!