A week and a half? Try a MONTH. I came down with an awful case of flu nearly 40 years ago, I think before there were readily available flu vaccines, and I have never felt so awful in my entire life. Hoped I could die but knew even though I felt that awful I was going to survive. Eventually. Then when I recovered from the flu, I lasted one day with my hideously weakened immune system and promptly got a HORRIBLE strep throat, and was laid up flat for another 2 weeks. And that's why I make sure I get vaccinated for everything I need or even potentially COULD need! I also am old enough to have been vaccinated for smallpox, so if that ever crops up, heaven forbid, I'll be one of the few old people nursing everyone else. You can thank me when that happens for appreciating what my parents did for me.

I have an idea... take parental classes, get educated on medicine that has been proven successful for the last decade or so, and stop trying to be the “unique parent” acting like you have high IQ when in all reality, I can confidently say you should go back to elementary and high school. Please share the College degree you received as well. It’s obvious the admissions group was paid off to let you in.

3 weeks I was incapacitated for with flu. Could barely move - high temp - sleeping half the time and more.

I was vaccinated and got chicken pox, that's nothing compared to this. I would rather be afraid of shingles as I'm getting older, to this.

Something must have gone wrong with the whooping cough vaccine on your daughter. My aunt died of it - as did many children in the 1930's. Glad she survived it.

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Whooping cough creates asymptomatic carriers with the vaccine. Look up the studies. Its not about trusting Drs its about looking at peer reviewed studies for yourself and actually reading the vaccine insert sheets from the manufacturer like you would do with any drug

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@Pani: You're a special sort of stupid, aren't you? This is why the Darwin Awards exist in the first place!

I do hope that you don't get chicken pox later in life, because it's supposed to be much worse in adults than in children. :( I caught chicken pox when I was at school and gave it to my dad, who had never had it before. For the record, I also had shingles at the grand old age of 21! This is following a bout of actual chicken pox as a child, not a chicken pox vaccine.

Chicken pox in adults can be deadly. My father was a nurse and his most tragic patient was a 40 year old man who died of chicken pox.

I had a horrible case of chicken pox as a child, got a horrible case of shingles last year--if I'd been elderly, I'm sure I would have died.

@ Petya - Chicken pox is more severe the older you are. This is why in pre-vaccination times parents would intentionally allow their young children to contract it "get it over with". We had "chicken pox parties" where all the kids were all over each other for the afternoon parents knowing one child was contagious. Mum could be ready and prepared to deal with the pox within a week or so - rather than waiting for years.Somehow I didnt get mine until age 13 - caught from my 7 yr old brother - I was way more ill than him

My two children and I had chicken pox last year. All vaccinated. They had a rather mild dose though mine was very intense and attacked my optic nerve resulting in vision loss in one eye for 2+months. There was a definite outbreak in our area. Thank would assume these types of results could warrant a vaccine.

As the mother of a child who survived leukemia (diagnosed at 18 months) I will tell you the one specific reason that there should be a CP vaccine. People with no immune system. Children who are suffering auto-immune or other diseases that reduce their immunity can die because they can't be vaccinated themselves. My daughter in particular was very lucky, she was exposed to chicken pox by accident 2 weeks after her last chemo session had 92% body coverage, and it spread internally. Had she not had just enough time for the steroids to rebuild her immune system somewhat we would have lost her. As it stood the CP virus weakened her lungs enough that she had to also suffer 3 bouts of pneumonia in the successive months following 2 of which were touch and go. I would much rather her be at risk for shingles later in life (or shockingly get vaxxed for them..) than have CP run rampant

When I was a child, the chicken pox vaccine wasn't mandatory here, so I haven't got it. I caught chicken pox at 25, because my grandpa got shingles. His case was a bit atypical - it was on his head and affected mostly his eyes, so they didn't realize what it was for days and I helped him put eye drops and I got chicken pox because I was in contact with him. Fortunately, mine was a light case. But if it was up to me I would have preferred not to have VZV in my system, as chicken pox wasn't so bad, but shingles is terrible. My grandpa had a high chance to go blind, it was miracle he didn't and he said the pain was terrible and didn't go away for months, even after the rash was long gone.

@Laeinea, Sorry that you had to go through this.I hope your daughter is fully recovered and well now. This tread made me check and it seems the vaccine for chicken pox still isn't easily available in my country, for shingles too. If you want them, you have to get them from neighboring countries. @diane, mine was a very light case, even compared to children - no fever, not so many blisters, for a 25 year old I was super lucky. Surprisingly I haven't caught it earlier, I remember there were outbreaks a few times when I was a kid.

There's no study because the people who received the chicken pox vaccinations aren't old yet. Shingles vaccine is only 4x a chicken pox vaccine. & there are rare instances where people are completely immune to certain diseases. I'm not 100% sure what it's called or which diseases. But, maybe you can't get any type of herpes. & yes every1 reading this chicken pox & shingles are herpes. Herpes zoster & herpes simplex.

BTW, this is based on talking to no less than 3 doctors. I've been tested twice for VZV, and don't have it. Again, because of the virtually nil mortality rate among adults, and the extremely low rate among children and the elderly who only die when they are fighting something with a much higher mortality rate in combination, and the fact that I will never get the Shingles without it, which is far more of a mortality issue, especially at age, they don't think I should get it either. It comes up every time I'm asked if I've had a Shingles innoculation, and I have to tell them I don't have VZV in my system. The technicians babble the same BS, but the RNs and definitely all MDs have to say, "Oh, he's been tested and doesn't have VZV. There's no reason to introduce it at his age. If he ever gets the Chicken Pox, then he can start the Singles innoculations, but he may have a natural ability to keep VZV out of his system. It's better if it's not in his system, at his age."