I'm not sure shingles is entirely avoidable, though -- my mom and a friend both had them, and they'd both had chicken pox as kids.

I have heard, Susan, that chicken pox is much worse the older you get -- a friend got it when we were in high school and she was a mess for a couple of weeks.

I knew quite a few kids with bad scarring. I remember my mother putting gloves on my hands and coating me with calamine lotion. My brain could only hold one thought, which was "I must scratch."

The point is that the vaccine could eliminate chicken pox altogether, so in the future no one would get shingles. There's nothing to do for those of us who have had chicken pox except cross our fingers.

When chicken pox recurs as shingles, it's not pretty.

Shingles is one of the three things my father managed to get in the year before he died. I have no doubt it was a motivating factor in his decision to take himself off the respirator.

In NC, the default is to give Hep. B to newborns in the hospital. You have to specifically decline it. I was told this is so they can be sure that at-risk children (i.e. children of addicts, etc.) receive it, but they can't have a policy just for at-risk of addicts, so they give it to everyone.

My understanding is the current chickenpox vaccine only confers temporary immunity, like less than 10 years. This seems to be the case for things like MMR, too, but there is still enough chckenpox around that you have a decent chance of getting it once the vaccine wears off, in early adulthood. I wonder if they will eventually go to college-age boosters of it, like they do with some other things (um, MMR, and tetanus, maybe?)

Aside from the delay of the Hep. B, my kids have had the normal vaccination schedule, and no ill effects more than a day of sleepiness/low fever/fussa.

I had chicken pox as a kid (still have the scars), and I developed shingles a few years ago. Not the worst pain I've ever been in, but it was not pretty by a long shot.

I have one big scar on my chin where my mom's ring caught a scab accidentally when she was buttoning my coat.

Can anything ever be wiped out entirely, though, given the international factor, where vaccines aren't the norm?

I hated taking the kids for vaccines, too. I always dosed them with a little Tylenol beforehand, but it's hard to let someone poke your baby and make them scream. Jake had to have his bilirubin levels checked repeatedly after birth because he was jaundiced, and his little feet just broke me -- the back of his heels were black and blue.

That's too funny Laga.

I had chicken pox when I was about 9 months old. I used to tell my mom that it must have hurt her more than it hurt me.

I had chicken pox at age 16, and it was brutal. I was out of commission for two weeks and was utterly miserable. I would have done anything to have avoided that.

I can't imagine having an infant with it, Burrell. You're so right -- the baby would be miserable, but would never remember it. You, on the other hand, would be heartbroken and a bit helpless.

The worst for me was when Ben had to have stitches in his head at three. I thought I was going to kill someone if they didn't stop, and he was just sobbing and freaked out and terrified. Was terrified of haircuts for about two years after that, too.