I don’t understand it. I had the mumps, scarlet fever, measles and chicken pox when i was very young and when the oral polio became available my mother had my in line. I immunized my kids. Unfortunately the oldest caught chickenpox before the vaccine was distributed in the US and of course the two “youngers” caught it, but there’s no excuse for the other vaccines they have been tried and tested for many decades. I can’t understand why people think it’s not going to affect “them” when they choose not to vaccinate.
What vaccines should we (as adults) go back and get? I heard at a seminar at work on “Health 101 Refresher” that perhaps all of us should get the acellular Pertussis along with our next Tetanus (and of course annual Influenza), but should we also get the Shingles vaccine if we had the disease Chicken Pox as kids?
^^My understanding is that if you had chickenpox as a kid, the virus is dormant in your body and that you are more likely to get shingles when you are older. I would absolutely get the shingles vaccine if you had chickenpox as a child.
@Joblue - is there an age restriction on the Shingles vaccine? My doctors have never mentioned it to me (yet)?
I believe that, barring unusual circumstances, it is recommended when you turn 60.
I agree with your mom (and you) 100%. But really–how do we educate people who either a) are otherwise intelligent but incredibly selfish or b) stubbornly ignorant (i.e., following religion or a Playboy bunny for medical advice) if they don’t want to be educated?
As an aside, the psychology of the “cluster” communities is fascinating to me. How does an idea like not vaccinating take root? I live in a community with a lot of people who are into alternative medicine, natural birth, child-centered parenting, etc. but I have never heard the topic of withholding vaccinations come up.
nm
Assuming that my children are vaccinated, I don’t have a newborn/pregnancy, etc. - isn’t it the case that unvaccinated children are safe for playdates? I understand the proposed “benefit” of stigmatizing the unvaxxed, but we do have one family friend that I eventually convinced to vaccinate her daughter by actually being friends and talking politely and respectfully.
If anything, fretful, the girl is at much greater risk from your vaccinated daughter than vice versa. People can carry germs without contracting the illness as their bodies are able to fight it off.
That’s true - but if you have a “chronic condition” you can sometimes get it at a younger age. I have diabetes and I got the vaccine at age 51 (and my insurance paid for it). depends on your doctor, your insurance, the the prevailing definition of “chronic condition.”
@romanigypsyeyes @scout59 - thanks! (BTW mine is a son 
) I hope she (the unvaccinated girl) is now fully immune by this year. Re “chronic condition” my guess is that College-Confidential-Reading does not qualify. Heh heh. So since I’m not yet 50, I will have to wait.
I wish my insurance would cover the shingles vaccination before age 60. I have 2 close friends my age (57), who have had shingles and both were miserable.
Oops sorry about that. I thought I read two daughters in that post.
Best of luck on convincing her. My heart hurts for her daughter being at unnecessary risk.
^^Thanks for the good wishes and no worries re the kid genders - I almost didn’t even say anything but then I thought people might wonder if they’d seen other posts.
I had shingles in my 50s, D had it in her teens and H had it in his 60s (all separate incidents many many months apart. They were miserable and I paid the under $200 to get the vaccine even tho insurer refused to reimburse (despite my chronic condition).
The only reason I wasn’t miserable withy shingles is because H and D got me to a dermatologist on Sunday who said yes, it could be shingles and started me on an antiviral that day.
Have heard awful things about shingles and I prefer to prevent it. The dermatologist failed to diagnose DAnd H with their shingles in time for antiviral to help at all.
I opted to pay out-of-pocket for it early last year instead of waiting until I was 60. Just not something I wanted to mess around with. Given the health issues I experienced mid-year, I’m glad I did, especially if it can be precipitated by physical stress. As an aside, I actually did have a very, very mild case of it five years ago. I don’t want to tempt fate so I paid $165, and looked at it as an insurance policy.
Wow, nice you were able to get the Shingles Vaccine for $165. I was happy Costco had it in stock and under $200. It seemed well worth avoiding the pain H and D experienced, which required major pain meds so they could rest or sleep.
@fretfulmother I have a friend whose child got whooping cough even though he was vaccinated. Vaccines are not 100% effective so there is always a small risk if your child plays with an infected child. Of course, if we all got vaccines, they would get very close to 100% effective.
This happened in Northern California, BTW.
@greenwitch well, shoot. We are in the Boston area with plenty of anti-vaxxers though my kids are fully vaccinated. I guess all we can do is normal hand-washing, etc. in addition.
You can always take more precautions if the epidemic gets closer to you.
ETA - I have to say my kids went to a school where a lot of their friends weren’t vaccinated. I didn’t even think about it at the time but there were no outbreaks that I recall.