I have bitten the bullet and arranged an appointment for small girl (2.5) to be vaccinated against chicken pox, it is something I have debated for ages and despite cousin by cousin falling foul of it, small girl and smaller boy managed to avoid it.

Then one of my friends told me how how her little boy (who is the same age as small girl) caught chicken pox and was waking at night banging his head on the floor with sheer frustration due to the itchiness. I asked if her is she had her time again would she have vaccinated and the answer was an absolute and emphatic yes.

I mentioned it to my mum and she grimaced at the memories of the particularly bad bout of chicken pox I contracted (my mum’s memories of my childhood wouldn’t be the greatest so for her to have such a clear recollection it must have been bad).

My main reason for wanting the vaccine is I see absolutely no need for my children to experience chicken pox or to risk the, albeit limited, complications that may arise (and I should admit there is also a purely selfish motivation, while I don’t want my children to experience the misery and itchiness of chicken pox, I’m also not that keen to deal with it myself).

Once my decision was made the next step was to find a clinic which would give the vaccine, a new private hospital has opened in Belfast which operates a private GP service so this was my first port of call.

I called to enquire and was told that I would have to make an appointment with the GP at a cost of £70 but there was no guarantee  the GP would allow small girl to be vaccinated and in the words of the receptionist “they are very reluctant to give the vaccine to someone so young.” I wasn’t keen on this approach or having to argue my case with a GP to risk them refusing the vaccine. Nor could I see any reason for their reluctance as the chicken pox vaccine is routinely given as part of the childhood immunisation programme in many other countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan and Germany.

I asked around and a couple of friends and our health visitor suggested Synergy Healthcare who have been super easy to deal with, the reception staff are extremely informative and helpful. There is a £30 registration fee and the vaccination is £85. According to the receptionist there is a second dose, usually due 3 months after the first dose, the official advice has recently changed and the recommendation  is now that everyone has a second jab (whereas as far as I understand children only required one dose). She advised we do our own research and decide whether we were happy with one dose or wanted the second which was a refreshing change from insisting we have both.

The vaccines are ordered in as appointments are booked so there is a wait of a couple of weeks, enough time for me to discuss it endlessly and change my mind a multitude of times. Once small girl is vaccinated and I can reassure myself that there are no adverse reactions I will book smaller boy in. For some illogical reason it would be my preference to wait until he is over 2 but then again if I’m going to get it done there really is no point in delaying.

What do you think? Would you consider the chicken pox vaccine?