“Pox Parties:” Good or Bad for Kids?
There is a craze erupting among some parents of young children in the U.S. Some are hosting “chickenpox parties.” The idea? If you don’t like the varicella vaccination, immunize your child the “natural and old-fashioned” way. Get them sick.
Ever since the autism scare with the MMR vaccination, may parents have opted out of childhood immunizations. I understand how strong parental fear can be, because I am a parent. But I also know science. And- I know that there is a whole lot of nonsense posing as science that parents can access on the internet.
Unfortunately, while the association between autism and thimerisol in the MMR vaccine has long been debunked (even by the authors of the “study” exposing it), fear still abounds.
Here’s the real problem with the chickenpox parties. First, when a child contracts the chickenpox infection through exposure, his risk of getting serious sequelae are much higher. When he gets the infection, he may get cerebritis (infection of the cerebellar brain tissue), pneumonia, painful oral sores, keratitis (eye problems), secondary bacterial infections from sores on the skin, shingles later in life and more. Avoiding these serious problems was exactly the reason that physicians began immunizing against varicella. Some of these can be life threatening. These DON’T occur when you immunize children.
Many of the parents are exposing their children because they know that getting chickenpox as an adult is very dangerous. They are right. But kids can also get what adults get when they get the infection.
Second, some parents want their kids to get the infection because they believe that it will confer lifelong immunity. While this may have been true thirty years ago when all kids got chickenpox, we don’t know if it is true any longer. Back then, kids had repeated exposure to the illness through siblings, classmates and others in the community but that no longer happens because we rarely see chickenpox anymore. Bottom line is, the rules have changed.
I strongly believe that parents should never make parenting decisions out of fear. Not immunizing your children is just that. What parents who refuse to immunize forget is that taking a different tact like this doesn’t minimize your child’s risk for problems. Sure, children won’t get reactions to the vaccines, but these are mild compared to sequelae from the infection. Unimmunized kids are extremely vulnerable to life threatening illness. We really have come a long way in making kids healthy, so let’s not go backwards. Taking kids to chickenpox parties leaves them wide open for many very serious health concerns that really don’t need to be part of a child’s life any longer.
If you are concerned about vaccine safety, visit the VAER on the CDC website for accurate medical information.
11 Responses to ““Pox Parties:” Good or Bad for Kids?”
Dr. Meeker: What do you suggest for parents who are morally opposed to immunizations when the vaccine was made using aborted fetal cells? There are a number of alternatives for some vaccines but I understand there isn’t one for varicella.
I’ve heard that the vaccine doesn’t confer lifelong immunity either, is that true? If so when should boosters be given?
If a child never has chickenpox and is not vaccinated w/ it – then isn’t it true a child can never get the painful shingles from the same virus?
“I strongly believe that parents should never make parenting decisions out of fear. Not immunizing your children is just that.”
Are you suggesting that parents who decide to not immunize are making this decision based on fear? If so, I think this is where a big part of the problem lies. I’m thinking that the failure of healthcare providers to understand and discuss the parents viewpoint is a major road block in this debate.
I think Dr. Meeker understands parental fear pretty well actually. The point is, parental viewpoints are almost always based on fear on this topic. There are people on the internet posing as real doctors, who are really conspiracy theorists. What’s worse is they are usually well meaning Christians, but their ideas are often fear based and they have become very patronizing to the medical science community. I’d be curious to hear what your “viewpoints” actually are. What are your concerns?
Thanks for these thoughtful comments. I wanted to point out that I address some of the concerns you’ve listed on a post I wrote a while back called “My Stance on Vaccines.” The link is here: http://www.megmeekermd.com/2011/08/my-stance-on-vaccines/
Respectfully,
Meg
I can’t remember ever finding myself being critical of a Christian mom-author before, but I strongly feel this is not at all respectful of cautious-regarding-vaccine parents.
I am not headed to a chicken pox party anytime soon, but what does “Sure, children won’t get reactions to the vaccines” mean? My pro-vaccine pedi told me flat out, “I cannot promise you your child will not have a serious reaction to a vaccine. Nobody can.” Add in the fact that this vaccine is live virus, and I am pretty shocked to read someone say there won’t be any reactions, especially since few providers take the time to educate the parents regarding secondary transmission to the immuno-compromised around them.
Also, “These DON’T occur when you immunize children.” seems to claim the varicella vaccine is 100% effective, though it’s around 95% effective against severe varicella. That 5% will matter to some families, and we should give families the full info.
Furthermore, isn’t every vaccine GIVEN out of fear? I could easily change the last paragraph to read, in my opinion, I strongly believe that parents should never make parenting decisions out of fear. Following the CDC-recommended-schedule is just that.
Furthermore, isn’t every vaccine GIVEN out of fear?
GREAT point.
I’m 40 and have had chicken pox AND shingles, and guess what? I’m still alive!!! There are way too many vaccines out there, flu (never had it), whooping cough (SERIOUSLY???), and swine flu (REALLY). Everywhere I turn, there’s an advertisement for a flu, whooping and swine shot. Let’s draw the line somewhere. This advertisment is scaring and FEARING the people that they need a shot (right now, no waiting)or they’re going to get one of the 3, which won’t kill ya.
Let’s talk about the hepatitis B vaccine. Hepatitis B is contracted the same way AIDS is…through blood and sex. Why are we giving this vaccine to babies?? Our Gov’t is sicker than the sick. In end, the Gov’t, FDA, and Pharmy companies WANT you to get sick, they don’t want you to get better. Money IS the root of ALL evil, and our USA is made up of that. I hate living here, wish I could move to Europe.
I am 39 years old so I did have chicken pox as a child and it was not fun, I got really sick. Alot of my friends had it mildly but I felt horrible for 2 weeks, I would never have exposed my kids to that sickness. I was 7 years old when I had it and still remember so it must have been bad. We were happy that a vaccine came out for this nasty virus I am so glad our kids will not have to go though it like we did.
@John: I personally do not have any concerns. I am very confident in the decisions I have made regarding immunizations based on what I’ve learned through my doctorate level education. Courses in microbiology and immunology provided the foundation of my decisions. From the information I was able to acquire from the peer-reviewed literature, there seems to be a trend among parents with college degrees who are opting out of immunizations. I am wondering if their decisions are based on fear or rather a formal education in areas related to human biology?
Great discussion! I myself am not a mother just yet but immunizations is something that I’ve been researching. I agree with so many of you and in fact, I’ve been calling out to my husband, “That’s exactly what I said!” while reading your posts. My initial thoughts are that I will opt out of childhood vaccinations for reasons stated above and more. I hold a Masters degree not in Medicine but in Physical Therapy. And it seems I fall among the trend that Gretchen refers to- parents with college degrees opting out of immunizations. Thanks everyone.