Chicken Pox Controversies 

 If you’re wondering whether or not you should have your child vaccinated against chicken pox (varicella virus), you’re not alone.  Many parents today are opting to either skip the vaccine and let nature take its course, or expose their children to chicken pox intentionally so they develop immunity naturally. 

Chicken Pox Vaccination: The Cons

• What do some parents have against the chicken pox vaccine?
• They consider it an unnecessary vaccine.
•  Chicken pox is usually mild when acquired by children and easy to treat. 
• They believe natural immunity is better than vaccine immunity.
• Some believe children are more likely to enjoy lifelong immunity by  catching  chicken pox as opposed to being vaccinated.
• They question the vaccine’s effectiveness.
• Some view cases where vaccinated children still catch chicken pox as  evidence that the vaccine doesn’t work.
• They believe the vaccine may be harmful to their children’s health.
• The chicken pox vaccine is relatively new, and we do not know the long terms affects of its use. 

Chicken Pox Vaccination: The Pros

What do proponents say about the benefits of the chicken pox vaccine?

• Tens of millions of children have safely received the vaccine, and serious side effects have been very rare.
  The vaccine is 99% effective.  Proponents point out that the very small  percentage of vaccinated children who get chicken pox develop only a very mild form of the disease.
• Proponents believe it is safer for children to receive the vaccine than to actually catch chicken pox.  Although chicken pox is usually a mild illness, in rare cases complications may arise that make it difficult to treat, or even fatal.

How Can You Decide?

The controversy surrounding the chicken pox vaccine isn’t easy to sort through, but parents can take a common sense approach when making their decision.
If you believe in the value of natural immunity or have serious doubts about the vaccine, you may:

• Deliberately expose your child to the virus through a chickenpox party in your community.  Keep in mind that as more and more parents vaccinate, these exposure options are harder to come by.
• Wait and see if your child either catches chicken pox or somehow acquires immunity on her own.
• If you prefer to prevent your child from catching chicken pox:
• Have your child vaccinated.
• Don’t vaccinate, but bolster your child’s immune system with vitamins, homeopathic remedies and probiotics to lessen the odds of their becoming sick.
• Wait some time, but vaccinate before school age, or whatever age you believe exposure to the virus is likely.
• If you’re not sure about the vaccine, the wait and see approach may be best. But keep in mind that cases of chicken pox tend to be more severe later in life.  Some parents delay the vaccine in early childhood, but have their child vaccinated before their teen years if they haven’t already acquired immunity. 

Remedies for Chicken Pox

Whether you take a wait and see approach or opt to expose your child to the virus, here are some natural remedies for the symptoms of the virus:

• Homeopathic remedies such as Rhus-toxicodendron 30 to relieve itching and Antimonium crudum 30 to help lesions heal.
• Calamine lotion to relieve itchingVitamin C, vitamin A as beta carotene, and Echinacea will help to fortify your child’s immune system so her run of the chickenpox won’t be as severe.