Chicken pox is a highly contagious childhood illness that involves sufferers getting itchy red spots all over their bodies. While many children recover from chicken pox within a few weeks, the illness can sometimes turn deadly.
Thanks to the varicella vaccine, there have been less reports of infections in recent years. However, some parents refuse to have their children vaccinated, and many of these parents are now sending their kids to chicken pox parties that doctors are advising against.
Parents have been organizing chicken pox parties through social media to expose their children to the illness and build up their immunity. One screenshot shows a mother say that she has been “swamped with requests” to have her daughter share her chickenpox.
Parents are organizing these parties because they want their children to be infected with chicken pox as soon as possible, as the illness is far more dangerous when a teenager gets it. However, doctors are saying that the vaccine is much safer.
“There’s this emphasis on natural immunity being better than vaccine-delivered immunity,” said Lindsay Diamond, a molecular biologist. “So, the idea [is] that you would get your child chickenpox, and that would give them this sort of life-long immunity. But you can achieve the same thing, or close to, with the vaccine without serious risks.”
“This is all focused on your child, but in reality this is a community issue,” she continued. “And so these people then go out into their world. They go to the library, they go to the grocery store, they go to schools where there’s likely to be an immunocompromised person. And then you are risking the health of not only your own child, but the public health.”
Talk to your doctor about the chicken pox vaccine. It’s recommended for kids between 12 and 15 months and again between 4 and 6 years. Older kids and adults who didn’t have the vaccine or the disease also should get two doses. pic.twitter.com/CIAqBGO9z2
— CDPHE (@CDPHE) October 18, 2018
If you are a parent of a young child, consider getting them vaccinated!
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