<p>I remember my smallpox vaccine too. Besides CP, I also had mumps and measles both when I was six (1968)</p>
<p>I’ve had the chicken pox 3 times and have been given the vaccine at like age 8 and again at 17. I will never be able to carry immunity and will get it again. It is important that others around me get the vaccine because if someone like your daughter got it and gave it to me, I become very sick. It’s very important that others get vaccine or given a blood test. =)</p>
<p>I had umpteen small pox vaccinations back in the day when the scar left was usually obvious. Trouble was that NONE of mine ever got to a point where they scabbed over…so no scar. Doctors at the time said that the vaccinations were not taking. Before I went to college, they did a titer and I AM immune to small pox…but the doctors do not think it was due to my numerous small pox vaccinations which seemingly didn’t take.</p>
<p>As an aside, I had exactly six chicken pox all on my stomach when I finally got the chicken pox at age 12. A REALLY mild case. Doctors told me that a mild case of that sort might not create immunity. I worked as a primary school teacher for 37 years
AND nursed my son through a horrendous case of chicken pox and never got them again.</p>
<p>Re: #43 and smallpox</p>
<p>Perhaps you had previously been infected with cowpox or a subclinical case of smallpox before without realizing it?</p>
<p>I had the small pox vaccine too. And I never understood why they put the vaccine on the upper arms, especially for the girls. It often left a large unsightly scar, so to me it made much more sense to put it say back on the shoulder blades or some other place where it wouldn’t show when girls wore sleeveless outfits.</p>
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<p>If she lived in the US I doubt she had a case of small pox. The last case of small pox in the US occurred in 1949. And it was getting pretty rare in the years before that.</p>
<p>My docs actually think I had a natural immunity to small pox.</p>
<p>Not surpising. Most likely, one of your ancestors lived in aroud it and was exposed to it. Its kinda like those who developed a natural resistance to the plague (oddly enough for some reason it also blocks the hiv virus).</p>
<p>On topic, i had the vaccine as a child. When it was going around was the same time i got phnemonia back to back (multipletimes). Would have been really bad if i had gotten it.</p>
<p>I just told the doctor when my kid had the chickenpox and she put it in his records. She just took my word for it. If the doctor can believe you then why wouldn’t a college believe you?</p>
<p>Get a state exemption from the shots. That is the best way to handle that. At one point, our ped moved and married so we could not find the records. And we needed them to enroll in a new school. So we got the exemptions. Now days though, we are picky about which shots to take and when. So…we still use the exemptions.</p>
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<p>I’m guessing that the college’s concern is not that she actually had chicken pox, but that she had immunity – and not everyone who had it is immune (which is why we’re hearing in this thread about people getting it more than once). So I doubt they disbelieve that she had it; they just don’t care. They want the blood test to see that she’s immune, not to prove that she’s had chicken pox.</p>
<p>“That is the best way to handle that.”</p>
<p>No, that’s really not the best way to handle it. It would be beneficial to the OP’s child to actually be aware of her immunity status. I don’t know what a ‘state exemption’ is. In my state, exemptions may be claimed on medical grounds (difficult to obtain) or religious grounds (easy to obtain). In any even, I don’t know if state or private colleges are obligated to honor those exemptions.</p>
<p>Also, there are some misconceptions about herd immunity. It’s not ‘herd immunization’. Herd immunity occurs when susceptible individuals are in a population that is otherwise immunized against a particular virus. The susceptible individuals are ‘immune’ by virtue of the fact that the rest of the population is immunized and are unlikely to pass the disease to those who are susceptible. So the non-immunized individual relies on the willingness or ability of the rest of the population to provide immunity for them.</p>
<p>Why should a college ‘believe you’ if, as many posters have indicated here, that their MD simply took their word for it regarding their child’s disease status. I believe the college is doing its due diligence by documenting either a positive titer or a compliant and up-to-date immunization history. It is a little CYA as well but who would blame them.</p>
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<p>Well, actually it would be if your ancestor had a mutation conferring resistance to smallpox, others around him/her died of smallpox, so the ancestor passed along the mutation to a larger percentage of the next generation than if there was not smallpox killing the non-resistant people.</p>
<p>There are claims that the [url=<a href=“CCR5 - Wikipedia”>CCR5 - Wikipedia]CCR5-Δ32[/url</a>] mutation improves resistance to smallpox, plague, and HIV, but that it increases vulnerability to West Nile virus.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if the person in question was around cows a lot, an undocumented previous cowpox infection could be the source of immunity against smallpox (and the smallpox vaccine). Something similar may also apply to being around horses, as horsepox infection also vaccinates against smallpox. Cats might also be a vector for cowpox, since it infects rodents that cats prey on.</p>
<p>D1 was only required to have the pediatrician’s record of disease. 3 yrs later, same school for D2 is requiring proof of vaccines or titre. It was real irritating having to schedule a time to go to the lab for a blood draw during their business hours between D2’s and my own work schedules. (It was particularly irritating as D2 has a big 'ole pox mark on her cheek advertising her obvious disease history.) Having said that, I actually had the chicken pox twice. Once as a baby and again when all three of my kids had it. So…</p>
<p>That would really make me angry. All 3 of my kids had chicken pox. If a school is requiring a test for immunity, they should test ALL incoming students. The vaccines don’t always provide immunity either.</p>
<p>bigger threat to your kids health in college then vaccines
radiation from cell phones
broken cfl bulb in dorm room
chemicals sprayed on new matresses (fire retardent)
drinking to much
bug spray used in dorms for pest control
std’s
radioactive tsa body scanners traveling threw airports to and from school
frostbite
I would get the vaccines for my kids</p>
<p>Well yes, if your kids are 18 years old and have not had chickenpox it is more serious than for young children and yes it would be a wise decision to get them immunized. The vaccine was not available in the US until the mid-nineties so there are kids heading for college and in college that may not have acquired chickenpox as kids and may not have been vaccinated. I didn’t do the Hep series for my kids until they were teens but heading for a college dorm with a whole bunch of kids made sense for them to get the immunizations.</p>
<p>But on that same logic, not everyone who had the shots is immune. The shot is considered 80% effective at best.</p>
<p>80% effective - which is unfortunate but at least gives young adults and adults who didn’t develop chickenpox immunity as kids a fighting chance against getting it as an adult.</p>
<p>The vaccine is about 80-95% efficacious, which is pretty good for such a vaccine. That’s why the second dose was recommended-- to attempt to seroconvert the 5-15% of the once-vaccinated cohort who did not convert, as well as perhaps boost the response of those who did convert the first time around. It’s a good vaccine, and for most recipients (the above case notwithstanding) the risk of shingles is less, not the same or more than non-vaccinated individuals. </p>
<p>Because of the vaccine, there is not much “natural” (wild type) cpox around, so the chances of little kids getting it (with pox parties or not) is very low, therefore, unvaccinated people are going to be older if/when they get it, and that’s when it’s the nastiest of diseases. So I tell my families who don’t want the vaccine to wait til about age 9-12, and if they haven’t gotten it by then, they should get it. I too have seen kids suffer horribly (and one die) from cpox. It’s not pretty, esp when we can prevent it. </p>
<p>I’m sorry that people are having to get the titer to prove immunity. In my state mostly, they’ll take the doc’s word/record/statement. Make sure your insurance covers the test if you are required to get it.</p>
<p>Even if the OP’s kid needs to get the booster most likely it won’t cost anything as vaccinations are usually covered 100% by your insurance as is the office visit. </p>
<p>As for time, it really shouldn’t take all that long to go to the dr’s and get a shot.</p>