What jabs for child of the 80s?
June 26, 2022 1:04 PM   Subscribe

I was born in 1977 in the UK and grew up there. Now I am live Germany and I think I have chicken pox (never had it as a child). Can anyone please tell me what vaccinations I will have been given in primary and secondary schools?

as the German doc will want to know and I don't want to discombobulate the aged parents. I wasn't opted out of any shots, went to state schools if that's relevant. Or is there anywhere I can look up historical NHS vax schedule data?
Thank you!
posted by runincircles to Health & Fitness (14 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
The NHS didn't offer chickenpox vaccine as a standard until approximately last year.

If you have the pox as an adult, be prepared for an unpleasant few days.
posted by praemunire at 1:07 PM on June 26, 2022 [6 favorites]


Best answer: You probably had infant jabs (polio, whooping cough, etc), rubella at school aged approximately 8 (if female) and a BCG for TB aged approximately 12. Some chance you had measles vax. Definitely not mumps or chickenpox normally.
posted by genghis at 1:11 PM on June 26, 2022 [3 favorites]


BTW, a chicken pox (Windpocken) vaccine wouldn't have been standard in Germany back then either. It only has been recommended by the RKI's STIKO since 2004.
posted by amf at 1:58 PM on June 26, 2022 [1 favorite]


Yeah you haven't been vaccinated for chickenpox unless you went out and got it on purpose at some point later in life.
posted by potrzebie at 2:06 PM on June 26, 2022 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I was born about the same time and I had the following vaccinations

Diptheria, Tetanus and Pertussis, plus live oral polio at 3,6 & 9 months plus boosters at age 5 and 16
Measles age below 5
Rubella age 11/12
BCG (for TB) at age 12/13

Timeline of when various vaccines were introduced by the NHS

You might not have had measles (a quick search suggests that was a bit sporadic in the 1970s) or the second mid-teens tetanus booster

Chicken pox vaccination in the UK is unusual, so like others I would guess you haven't had it.
posted by plonkee at 2:06 PM on June 26, 2022 [4 favorites]


I'm British, about the same age as you, and concur that chicken pox vaccination wasn't standard then and I definitely haven't had the vaccination (though I have had chicken pox, no big deal for me aged 7). I hope you don't suffer too much with it.
posted by altolinguistic at 2:41 PM on June 26, 2022


Side note - something to consider - there is an antiviral they can potentially give you that lessens the severity of chickenpox, but it works best if you start taking it within 24 hours of the rash appearing. I would make a case for it, because both Mr. gudrun and I had chickenpox as adults and it was a miserable experience. My old boss also had chickenpox as an adult, and the antiviral still helped her even though it had been a bit longer than 24 hours when she started it.
posted by gudrun at 3:23 PM on June 26, 2022 [3 favorites]


You may want to consider the shingles vaccine at some point, as chicken pox stays in your system and can re-emerge as shingles, a very painful event that can last for months and can recur.
posted by theora55 at 3:51 PM on June 26, 2022 [1 favorite]


I grew up in the UK and was born a couple of years later and had the same vaccines on the same schedule as plonkee. I did not have a chickenpox vaccine.
posted by caek at 4:06 PM on June 26, 2022


Chickenpox is rough for adults. My friend had it a couple years ago, and the facial expressions he made when he described it were pretty clear in communicating that it was especially bad and very painful on his genitals. If there’s an antiviral now, I would look into it!

Of course it’s also a good idea to rule out monkeypox…

Hope you have a mild case of the bird one and feel better soon!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 4:26 PM on June 26, 2022 [3 favorites]


I traveled to Central America a few years ago and wasn't sure if I'd had some of the vaccines my doc recommended. They were able to do a blood test to tell me if I had immunities (I didn't). I think you'd have to ask them to test for specifics, but it may be an option if there's 1 or 2 they care about.
posted by willnot at 5:16 PM on June 26, 2022


The blood test immunity will also tell you if your body has gotten rid of any vaccine immunity - I very much definitely had hepatitis B vaccinations at multiple points growing up and yet when I had my first child they said to me "just so you know, you're not immune to Hepatitis B and should consider being vaccinated"
posted by freethefeet at 7:23 PM on June 26, 2022


Response by poster: Thank you all for the info and advice and kind wishes!
posted by runincircles at 10:03 AM on June 27, 2022


The lab tests that check your current immunity for vaccine-preventable diseases is called a blood titer. They’re super cool!

https://www.ucsfhealth.org/medical-tests/antibody-titer-blood-test
posted by forkisbetter at 2:48 PM on June 27, 2022


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