Is there a chicken pox vaccine?

There is a vaccine now. I think it depends on how old you are, as to whether or not you should get it.

Yes there is a vaccine. They give it to you as a young child. I think it also prevents shingles, which is a very painful adult form of chicken pox.

chicken pox

Bah.. I should have just Googled it. Lazy me..

The following people should probably receive the varicella vaccine if they have never had chickenpox:

* Older children, adolescents and adults
* Healthcare or day care workers
* Teachers
* College students
* Military personnel
* Inmates and staff of correctional institutions
* Women of childbearing age who are not pregnant (women should avoid pregnancy for 1 month following the vaccine)
* Anyone traveling to other countries outside the United States

http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/healthy/vaccines/193.html

My daughter contracted it recently in her late thirties. Apparently she never caught it from her older brother when they were young. She almost attacked me physically for not having exposed her to it when she was a baby, even tho I had. Her case, as an adult, was nasty.

Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about.. the longer I go, the worse it’s going to be when I do finally get it. It’s so contagious, I know it’s inevitable.

Get the vaccine, if Doc says it’s OK.

Without wishing to sound like some kind of “wiseguy,” there is a vaccine for everything.

It is just that some of them are in the future, awaiting discovery.

Yay! JackAdams is cured! I missed you, jack!

I got chicken pox when I was eight months pregnant!! That was before the vaccine and I had never gotten pox as a kid. SUCKED!

If an adult had shingles, would they be immune to contracting chicken pox?

You can’t get shingles if you’ve never had chicken pox.
You can get shingles if you’ve had the varicella vax or had the actual chicken pox
Shingles is contagious. By exposure to the open sores. But you would end up getting the Chicken pox or if you’re an adult and never had the CP you would get it in the form of chicken pox.

I hope you got your varicella vax. I’ve had chicken pox, so I’m not worried. I’ve also been exposed to shingles and didn’t get it. My son will not get the varicella vax, we’d rather him get actual chicken pox. If he doesn’t get it by the time he’s 8 or 10, we’ll get the vax.

I have never had the chicken pox nor been exposed (to my knowledge) to anyone with it. About 5 years ago, my doctor did a blood test which showed that I did not have immunity to it. My sister has 3 young children & is an elementary school teacher so we decided that I would get the vaccine, which consists of actually 2 shots so many weeks apart. I had to pay out of pocket because my insurance wouldn’t cover an adult. My doctor told me that it doesn’t always take with an adult so a few months later she did another blood test and, sure enough, I did not have the immunity so it didn’t work. I decided not to spend another $80 to try it again, but whenever someone tells me their child has it, I stay far, far away, as I don’t want to get it now in my 40’s…

Two out of three of my kids had chicken pox. One had them ALL OVER, and the other one had 15 spots on his back. The third was obviously exposed, but never got them, so he had the chicken pox shot when he was in high school. I had always heard that you were worse off if you got chicken pox as an adult. His doctor did a blood test first to make sure he hadn’t had chicken pox. The only reason we had any doubt whether he had them was because he had a scab on his scalp at the same time the other two had chicken pox. A pharmacist I talked to at the time said that might have been the chicken pox and that’s all the spots he got, so we felt sure that the scab was just from getting hit by something (most likely his brother).

I had chicken pox AND the vaccine, wonder if I’m gonna mutate when I get older… :(

It’s scary that people aren’t aware of available vaccines.

Is this anti-vaccine trend EVER going to end?