When I took Calleigh to the doctors back when she was poorly I also took in Calleigh's vaccination record from England as it was needed by the doctors to make sure she was all up to date on her immunisations. Which I thought she was, her next one would be the pre-school booster at 3 years 4 months of age. Unfortunately here in the USA they have a slightly different schedule. Mostly the same but with one more which was due to be administered between the ages of 12 and 15 months.
It is the Varicella (VAR) Vaccine (against chicken pox).
After asking a lot of questions about whether she should really need it or not as they don't do it in England I was informed that because she is in daycare she really should have it done as it is a requirement for daycare and schools.
When I got home I did a bit of googling and found out why it wasn't part of the programme in the UK.
Chickenpox is a mild illness that is very common amongst young children. Because of this 90% of adults in the UK are immune to chickenpox because they had it as a child, as I did and I'm sure most of you reading did. It is however available privately.
So why do they offer it in the US?
Chicken pox can be a very nasty disease which in it's worst cases caused 100-150 deaths per year. Because of this the vaccine was introduced in 1995 and since it's introduction cases of chicken pox have dropped by 90%.
The side effects of the vaccine are small and that of most other vaccines with serious side effects being rare.
I feel satisfied that the vaccination is safe for Calleigh to have and will be booking her in for it either at the end of this week or the beginning of next. Hopefully she will be side effect free and if it stops my little baby getting poorly again then I am happy for her to have it.
I hate seeing little Calleigh with a cold never mind an itchy horrible rash all over her.
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