Noah was just 3 years old when his
mother started noticing red spots over
his body last year. For weeks, he had
painful lesions, chickenpox on his
eyelids and quickly developed pneumonia.
>> He was so unwell. Um he wanted comfort
and none of us could make him better. He
wanted held, but he was too sore to be
held. Um he just the pain. He just kept
saying how sore he was.
>> Noah made a full recovery. His parents
say their biggest regret was not paying
for the vaccine. At the moment, the
chickenpox vaccine is only available
privately and costs around £150. From
next year though, it'll be added to the
MMR jab and called MMRV. Administered
through two doses, one given at 12
months old and the other at 18 months.
As summer turns to autumn though, for
many parents, the extra protection
couldn't come soon enough. Well, it must
be fairly well researched and pretty
safe. Obviously, there's always a little
bit of an unknown and you're taking a
leap of faith.
>> Me and my husband have been looking at
it getting it privately, but with the
cost with two kids, you just can't do
it. So, it is about time to be fair.
>> I think hopefully people are coming
around to the fact that vaccines are
important and we got to keep our
children safe.
>> I paid to have him vaccine when he was
one so that he was protected.
>> From January next year, the vaccine will
be offered for free for the first time
in the UK. The government says it will
protect half a million children every
year, becoming as routine as other jabs.
This vaccine's been around since the
early 90s, but health experts believed
if chickenpox stopped circulating,
adults wouldn't be reexposed to it,
which could affect their immunity, which
then could mean they were prone to
shingles. But 30 years of research shows
that's not the case. These vaccines are
safe. They are protective. In the last
year, none of the main childhood
vaccines reached their uptake targets
across England. Numbers for the MMR jab
have been declining since 2021. And it's
already having an impact. You know,
we've seen recently outbreaks of
measles, MS, which we haven't seen for
many, many years because the
immunization rate has dropped. But if
we're combining that vaccine with it,
I'm not sure what the uptake will be.
The government says the vaccine could
save the NHS 15 million pounds a year
for treating the illness and save
children from having to suffer as Noah
did. Sangi Talal, ITV News.