Pox Parties

I want to say this with humility and grace. A day or two ago, I wanted to come on here and say it with guns blazing. That's the problem with being a justice girl. Everything is black and white and when an injustice is perceived, there is little inclination to consider all sides. 

In this instance, I took some time. 

Twice this past week, from two different people in two different circles, the idea of a pox party was brought to my attention. I admit, the concept was not entirely new to me. We are a homeschooling family, after all, and homeschoolers, for whatever reason, often tend to be of a crunchy bent. I never really paid attention to the idea of it before. It wasn't something that was on my radar. 

For the uninitiated, let me explain. A pox party is when the parent of a child with an active case of chickenpox alerts non-vaccinating parents so that they can get their kids together in hopes that those who have not yet had chickenpox will get infected. The idea is to have their children get this childhood illness over early and develop the natural immunity that comes with it. There are countless Facebook groups dedicated to connecting these families. 

As one who contracted chickenpox at the ripe old age of twenty-three from a patient who had shingles, I do like the idea of getting it as a child better. I had pox in every possible orifice, including down my throat and inside of my ears. I have never been so miserable and I have birthed seven children, some of them without medication and have had giant kidney stones on multiple occasions. But, I digress.

There is a vaccine for chickenpox. Many, many people had chickenpox as children and it was not a big deal. Those people roll their eyes and think the government has gone a little loopy and it is just one more unnecessary medical intervention and, of course, it's all about the money. And they may be right. It certainly is not a disease that comes anywhere near polio. However, before the chickenpox vaccine, 100 to 150 American children died yearly of chickenpox. One in 400 children were hospitalized, many with neurological conditions such as encephalitis, meningitis, convulsions, and even strokes. Within six years of the varicella vaccine being licensed, hospitalizations related to the infection dropped by 75%. Does the vaccine pose a risk? Of course. Every medical intervention has risks. But the risks and reported side affects of this particular vaccine are generally minor. 

Talking you into the vaccine, however, is not the point of this post. I think the reason it was on my radar and prompted this post when pox parties came up this time, is that now I have spent time in the world of special needs. I've walked the halls of the children's hospitals so many times, they feel like a second home, and I have healthy kids. But so many of my fellow parents on this journey do not. Many of them have children who are immunosuppressed. Their immune systems are not functioning as they should and they are at greater risk of developing illnesses.

Those children do not have the luxury of getting the vaccine that others are choosing to decline. What is a simple childhood illness for your child, can be a death sentence for them. 

A person is contagious for 1 - 2 days before the onset of the rash until the lesions have crusted over. A person usually contracts the illness between 10 - 21 days after exposure. In other words, a child could come down with chickenpox on average anytime between one and a half to three weeks after a pox party and will be contagious for a day or two before they know they have it.

So, here's my question for those of you who plan to send your kids to a pox party. 

Are you willing to keep them at home for up to two weeks while they may be contagious?

Because while the parents of those immunosuppressed children I talked about are less likely to have their kids out in public, sometimes it's unavoidable. One chance encounter with your infected child in the produce aisle could be the death of another child. 

I'm not being dramatic. Those 100 to 150 children who died each year from chickenpox before the varicella vaccine generally had underlying medical conditions, conditions that caused them to be immunosuppressed. Conditions that allowed a simple, normal, childhood illness to take their hope, their future, and their very last breath. 

See, you are free to choose. Vaccinate, don't vaccinate, partially vaccinate. Whatever. These parents don't have that luxury. They are counting on herd immunity for the life of their child. And if not that, then they are counting on common sense and decency from fellow parents. 

Recognize that these children exist, that they are fragile, and they are precious to those that love them, just as your children are to you. If you do choose to expose your children to a childhood illness, please keep them home until the risk of spreading it has passed.