Savvy or Not So Savvy? Pox Pops
Chickenpox lollipops? Absolutely gross and so not savvy.
Last week, the parenting news sources were all a-buzz about parents who don’t want to vaccinate their children with the chickenpox vaccine and have resorted to more ‘natural methods’ of ordering lollipops previously licked (or as my kids would say: ‘gobbed on’) by an infected child, in the hopes of catching the disease that way.
This is just wrong. Before the vaccine for chickenpox was readily available, moms deployed the old-school tactics like hosting a ‘chickenpox party’ and inviting the kid with spots over to infect the rest of the gang (so it would be done and over with). But that’s not immunizing, because the kids actually get the chickenpox. It’s just a way for the parents to control when it happens so they can manage it with their schedules. Fair enough. I understand the desire for parents to control things as much as they can (and I wish them good luck with that).
Today’s parents are now reaching further than their immediate communities for help. No more local parties. They now have the Internet and their vast social communities to make connections and solve problems. Apparently the latest solution to natural immunization was offered up on Facebook in the form of dirty lollipops.
Parents ordered and paid for the lollipops online, then had the infected treats mailed directly to them. This is not just disgusting and very risky, it’s ineffective and it’s actually against the law. Chickenpox is not spread through oral secretions but by the respiratory route so there is very little chance these kids could catch the pox from a dirty lollipop, but they do have a good chance of catching some other kind of infection.
This is seriously not savvy. But it begs the question: Do you vaccinate or not? We’re interested to know.
