Hi

Just wondering if I should arrange for my daughter's pre-school boosters to be done now or wait till we get to Australia in a couple of months.
I have heard Aus require little 'uns to have extra injections (is it HepB?).

Has anyone been in similar situation. Would be grateful for any advice on this. Thanks.

They immunise for HepB and the Chicken pox virus as well. If she is due them I would consider having them done. When they are out here they will arrange to have her immunised for the remainder. Talk to your health professional and take their advice.

Cheers

Ginny

My 8 year old hasn't had the chicken pox jab but she had chicken pox when she was 2. There would be no point in her having the jab and to be honest I would object to her having it. Would that cause us any problems in Oz???

If she is immune through having contracting the virus previously then there is no need to be immunised. If you object to certain immunisations in Oz you can write a consenisous objection (not the best speller) stating that you do not wish this. It may however exclude you from certain day care facilities etc as this is a requirement.

Cheers

Ginny

Thanks Ginny.

I only object because I think it is medically unecessary as she is immune now. Surely daycare would see this too?? She wouldn't be a medical risk.

I know you probably don't know the answer to this.

Day care would accept her because she is immune (after contracting the illness). If she had not contracted chicken pox then they may have wanted her to be immunised.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Ginny

Thanks again Ginny,

Well, I've stopped worrying now. Hope this helps other people who are wondering since chicken pox vacinations aren't given in the UK.

The UK also doesn't immunise for HepB routinely unlike the other industrialised countries.

Cheers

Ginny

For another point of view, my daughter was fully immunized in Canada (by their standards) but had to have catch up immunizations here.

The difference being that in Canada the HepB shots are given when the children are older. I had mine done when I was 13 although it may be given earlier now. In Australia the HepB is bundled in with the shots given up until they are a year old. So she's had to have 3 to 4 separate injections of just the HepB (specially ordered of course). But it hasn't been a problem.

I would say just stay keep on track with the shots in the UK and when you arrive bring the records with you. The nurses will sort through all of it and tell you what, if any, catch up shots will be needed.

My daughter had her pre-school boosters done before we left and her brothers are all up to date with the UK schedule (plus the extras they recommended for our month in Thailand) so I'm not intending for any of my kids to have any extra jabs here. They have all had chickenpox but I personally wouldn't vaccinate for that anyway. The only issue here is if there is an outbreak of something that kids are generally vaccinated against and yours aren't they will ask you to keep your kids off school - you do not HAVE to have your kids vaccinated. If you want to though it's just easier to get it done in the UK where you can walk in and have it done for free rather than trying to find a bulk billing surgery here, or pay and claim some (not all) of it back.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I have booked for my daughter to get her injections here. As you say it is better to be up to date with her injections prior to leaving and we can discuss with a GP there if she needs any others (although won't be going for the chickenpox vaccine as she has already had chickenpox and therefore immune).

Thanks Ginny - we've all had Hep B for a holiday - so we're covered.

You do not know if she is immune unless you've had her tested for varicella zoster. Having had a case of chicken pox does not necessarily mean you are immune to the VZ virus.

Having said that, vaccination is never "medically necessary" - it merely prevents the consequences of being infected with whatever the disease is. You can have, or not have, whatever vaccinations you like.

Good point.

When I was little I was vaccinated for measules, mumps and rubella. While I was pregnant with my second child the routine blood tests showed that I wasn't immune to rubella. The only explanation I got from the doctor is that sometimes they aren't that effective (about 5% of the time I think) or they can wear off over time. In my case I was immune with my first but not with my second. So sometime in that 3 years it worse off. After the baby was born I had to be immunized again.

Oddly enough the exact same thing happened to my mother in between my brother and me.

No idea how it works with chicken pox though. I did some quick research and most of what I read indicated that if you had chicken pox you were immune, and the cases that seemed to be chicken pox a second time were in fact shingles.

Either way, I certainly wouldn't get the vaccine if you've already had chicken pox.

LOL

Had the hep B course. Discovered one year later that I didn't have the immunity and had to get a booster course.

Had the measles jab as a kidlet. Got the disease when I was 22.

Hmmm....just twigged....maybe I do actually have a problem with my immune system LOL.

Oh well. I 'd still prefer to have any vaccination going than not. Wish that the pap vax had been available 20 years ago.