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Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/doubl...is_it_really_necessary.html?wpisrc=burger_bar
What to Do if You Get Invited to a Chickenpox Party
Don?t go.
By Melinda Wenner Moyer
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across the Facebook group ?Chicken Pox Parties?New York Metro Area.? It has 143 members, all of whom, I?m guessing, are parents who have chosen not to vaccinate their kids against chickenpox and instead hope to build their kids? immunity the old-fashioned way, by directly exposing them to the germs of a pox-infected child. They are not alone: Facebook has 14 other chickenpox party groups organized by geographical region, and if you can?t get to one in person, you can always ask to be sent a lollipop with an infected child?s spit on it.
Perhaps these parents go this route because they?re distrustful of the vaccine or they think that inoculating against chickenpox is dumb. For those of us who endured chickenpox as kids and emerged relatively unscathed, the varicella vaccine, as it?s called, does at first seem kind of dumb?another unnecessary medical intervention being thrust upon us and another box to check off on the never-ending paperwork that is raising a child. So should we say no to our pediatricians and bring a pox on all our houses instead?
After evaluating the medical evidence, my answer is an emphatic no. The shot is by far the better way to go. That?s because although we might recall chickenpox as a small but annoying blip on our childhood radar it can be dangerous...
What to Do if You Get Invited to a Chickenpox Party
Don?t go.
By Melinda Wenner Moyer
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across the Facebook group ?Chicken Pox Parties?New York Metro Area.? It has 143 members, all of whom, I?m guessing, are parents who have chosen not to vaccinate their kids against chickenpox and instead hope to build their kids? immunity the old-fashioned way, by directly exposing them to the germs of a pox-infected child. They are not alone: Facebook has 14 other chickenpox party groups organized by geographical region, and if you can?t get to one in person, you can always ask to be sent a lollipop with an infected child?s spit on it.
Perhaps these parents go this route because they?re distrustful of the vaccine or they think that inoculating against chickenpox is dumb. For those of us who endured chickenpox as kids and emerged relatively unscathed, the varicella vaccine, as it?s called, does at first seem kind of dumb?another unnecessary medical intervention being thrust upon us and another box to check off on the never-ending paperwork that is raising a child. So should we say no to our pediatricians and bring a pox on all our houses instead?
After evaluating the medical evidence, my answer is an emphatic no. The shot is by far the better way to go. That?s because although we might recall chickenpox as a small but annoying blip on our childhood radar it can be dangerous...