Apparently the concept of "it's never too late" can apply to things like childhood diseases, too. Just ask Barbara Walters: The 83-year-old news pro has the chicken pox! While in the hospital for an injury sustained after falling and hitting her head at a pre-inauguration party on January 19, Walters developed a fever that wouldn't go away. Considering her 2010 heart surgery, Walters was probably somewhat relieved to be diagnosed with chicken pox as the cause -- but the itchy illness can be super-serious in older patients (especially if it turns into pneumonia). Which leads to the question: Why wasn't Walters vaccinated? Which leads to the larger question: Why isn't everybody vaccinated?
Full disclosure: My two kids both received the chicken pox vaccine, but not because I was particularly concerned about them getting chicken pox, which used to be considered a fairly benign (if incredibly unpleasant) childhood rite of passage.
No, I agreed to the chicken pox vax after watching a friend go through an epic battle with her kids' school because they weren't vaccinated. After talking to my pediatrician about possible risks and weighing the pros and cons, the choice to get my kids vaccinated seemed to make the most sense. And we haven't had any problems in the years since.
Full disclosure (again): I made a different choice for myself. See, like Barbara Walters (well, not really, but you know what I mean), I'm one of those random adults who never had the chicken pox growing up. So when I was getting my kids vaccinated, their pediatrician gave me the whole speech about how it's much more dangerous for adults and so on and so forth, and maybe I should really think about getting vaccinated too, etc. But I was afraid, to be perfectly honest. Because you know those "rare" side effects they warn you about in super tiny print? I ALWAYS get those. So if I don't absolutely positively have to get something or take something or have something done to me, I don't.
Which is why I feel for Barbara Walters. Maybe she has similar issues. Maybe she doesn't. Point is, the decision to vaccinate isn't always easy. If we make the right one, we should consider ourselves fortunate.
Did you get the chicken pox vaccine for your kids?
Image via Joella Marano/Flickr
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Comments 14
Who said she didn't get the vaccine- or hadn't already HAD chickenpox in her childhood?
You can get it multiple times, and the vaccine can not be effective for some people.
You were afraid to get the vaccine but you were willing to give it to your kids? There should be a rule that if there's anything you don't want put into yourself, don't put it into your kids.
I've never gotten chicken pox and have been surrounded by people who had it but just never seem to get it, I had a doctor tell me to get the vaccine or die from chicken pox later. lol wut?
Because you never got the vaccine and have never had the chicken pox you are not at risk for developing shingles. Thank your lucky stars, it is a heinous, painful illness.
Trust me, get the vaccine! I was 13 years old when I got them, courtesy of my little sisters. I had them in the throat, the bottom of my feet, I was out of school for two weeks. It would have been longer, but Christmas vacation interrupted things. Our 30 year old neighbor got them. She was healthy, but ended up in the hospital.
Laurie, your theory isn't based in reality. People were getting the shingles long before the vaccine. You get the shingles by coming in contact with the chicken pox virus which activates the virus that is already in your body. If we operate on your theory, no one would get the shingles because the booster is the chicken pox virus itself? That makes no sense.