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Ed Yeates ReportingSome kids in the Tooele area have been coming down with chicken pox even though they were immunized with the chicken pox vaccine. Why?
Several families in Tooele neighborhoods have been communicating with each other lately, wondering why their kids got chicken pox when they were supposed to be immunized against it. Some of the children got pretty sick.
Seven-year-old Rosalee Wayman and her four-year-old brother, Stephen, are playing games these days because both are home, recovering from chicken pox. They weren't supposed to get it!
Shawnya Wayman: "I thought, 'Oh, my kids have had the vaccine. I don't need to worry about this.' I just couldn't believe it because now I had two children who were vaccinated that had gotten the chicken pox."
Shawnya Wayman keeps good records on imunizations. Rosalee got her chicken pox shot in April of 2002, Stephen in September that same year.
"My daughter, she was covered from head to toe with them, and come Saturday she had them really bad."
The Waymans took their seven-month-old son to Primary Children's Hospital last Friday. Doctors there gave young Chase a shot of antibodies to boost his immune system as a precaution, since he was born with a heart disorder.
Not too far from the Wayman's, another example. Joey Baker is now ten days into his chicken pox. He's looking a lot better. But still...
Shana Baker: "Very surprised. A little frightened. Talk about a false sense of security, thinking your child is protected against something and ta-da."
Shana Baker says dejavu. Two years ago, six-year-old Benjamin also got the pox.
Shana Baker: "About two days after he was vaccinated for chicken pox, he broke out in the chicken pox."
All of the families live within about a three- or four-mile radius. They know each other. They have get-togethers and the kids play together.
Are these chicken pox cases an oddity? Sure. But both the Tooele County and State Health departments say this happens now and then. It doesn't mean the vaccine isn't effective or that a new strain of chicken pox has suddenly popped up.
In fact, in a State Health Department study of almost six hundred kids three years ago, the vaccine proved itself better than 86 percent effective. That means in a few cases, it doesn't convert or take hold, as happened in Tooele. But, as health folks tell us, the shot is still worth the protection.
