Parents Avoid Chicken Pox Vaccine with Infected Lollipops
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Parents hoping to avoid giving their children the chicken pox vaccine are instead choosing to voluntarily infect their children using mail-order lollipops that have been licked by other infected children.
A CNN affiliate, KPHO, discovered the story when they came across a Facebook page called “Find a Pox Party in Your Area.” The page, which has now been removed, had 1,000 Facebook Likes postings by parents willing to sell and ship infected chicken pox lollipops across the state. One post read: “Fresh batch of Pox in Nashville Tennessee. Shipping of suckers, spit, and Q-tips available tomorrow. $50 via PayPal.”
According to an archived version of the page, its’ purpose was “for parents who want their children to obtain natural immunity for the chicken pox.”
Dr. Bill Schaffner, chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told CNN that sending already-licked lollipops could pose other health risks the parents might not be aware of. “You are sending out other germs, other bacteria, and you have no idea what is in them,” says Schaffner. He also added that it wasn’t even a very effective way to transmit the virus. “Typically somebody breathes out the virus and then somebody else breaths it in.”
Schaffner said that the lollipop idea is a variation on the “chicken pox party,” which he stated are “really bad ideas.” “There is not a pediatrician in the country that would recommend this,” he added.
The chickenpox vaccine (also known as varicella) became available to the general public in 1995. While the vaccine has rare side effects, such as swelling at the site of injection, soreness, pneumonia, and in extremely rare cases seizures, it is proven to be safer than the virus itself. Before the vaccine, chickenpox caused more than 10,000 hospitalizations a year in the United States, and between 1990 and 1994, 100 people died each year from the virus.
Jerry Martin, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, said that what these parents are doing is against the law. “Sending a virus or disease through the U.S. mail is illegal,” he says. “Also, it is against federal law to adulterate or tamper with consumer products, such as candy. Finally, it is illegal to introduce into interstate commerce unauthorized biological materials.”
What do you think of the lollipop idea? Would you ever take your child to a chickenpox party?
Comment by Chinmay Benegal on Nov 09 2011 11:54:51:
WTF is wrong with parents these days? You rather give your child the actual disease versus the vaccine (a muted version of the virus).
Comment by Brittany Batten on Nov 10 2011 12:14:23:
TThat is horrible and disgusting.
Comment by Jamie Dracup-Dill on Nov 10 2011 01:19:53:
People are ridiculous! What if they are being sent a lollipop with anthrax? There are people who are seriously sick out in the world…
Comment by Lauren Marinis on Nov 10 2011 02:15:13:
Wow! I swear people are so scared of vaccines these days… don't they know that they are so much safer than actually getting the disease?
Comment by Sophie on Nov 09 2011 09:54:12:
I would never give my child something knowing it is infected with a virus, how do these parents know it isn’t laced with a drug. That is poor and irresponsible parenting and putting your child in danger. Sick, sick, sick.
Comment by Saumya Banerjee on Nov 10 2011 03:00:24:
Education is optional for these people…
Comment by Kristy Servider Zimmerman on Nov 10 2011 03:28:27:
Mail order infected lollipops!!! OMG! I have seen it all! No words except that's absolutely disgusting, not to mention you have no idea what other germs and diseases they have on them! I got the chicken pox vaccine and I'm still alive and kicking! Sheesh just get the shot lol
Comment by Jamie Oliphant on Nov 10 2011 05:06:28:
this is just d-u-m-b!
Comment by Anna Stoops on Nov 10 2011 12:36:14:
Some people clearly have a few screws lose
Comment by Adam Gatica on Nov 10 2011 07:27:54:
Wtf? gross!
Comment by Danielle on Nov 10 2011 09:27:09:
Aww come on parents why stop there? What about Polio Popsicles, Diptheria Dip Sticks, Rotavirus Red Hots or Hepatitis Hershey Kisses? You’ve got a whole business here! What does the AMA know? They are just educated DOCTORS with MILLIONS of dollars of research put into these vaccinations so you won’t have to give your child a sucked on lollipop from a complete stranger! Any parent that would trust in this for their child should be ashamed of themselves.
Comment by Janelle DeHart on Nov 10 2011 09:27:36:
WTF!!! Are people really that serious? Who in their right mind would want to get their child sick so they will be immune to the virus? All it takes is a small trip to the doctors and getting them a shot, and if they dont want to do that then just let them get it on their own through other children. But what ever you do don’t order anything in the mail that has been licked by another child. You don’t know what else that child has or how sick their parents are to possibly put something else on that lollipop. What is wrong with some people these days?
Comment by chelsie best on Nov 10 2011 09:58:34:
Some people should not have children. To expose them to god knows what is just ridiculous!
Comment by Jennie on Nov 10 2011 10:15:20:
This is insane, I get their point but wow
Comment by Megan on Nov 10 2011 03:06:33:
I think the sucker idea is not okay because like others said you don’t know were it came from however, I will be taking my kids to a chicken pox party when they are older. It is better for them to have a natural immunity to chicken pox then a vax the vax doesn’t last forever and then they can catch it when they are old if they do not get the boosters. That is were all the deaths of this come in to play.
Comment by Kelly Alexander Taneri on Nov 11 2011 01:38:20:
The doctor says "this is a really bad idea"…. omg, you think? People are nuts!
Comment by Kelly Alexander Taneri on Nov 11 2011 03:03:03:
Just ridiculous.
Comment by Mooch on Nov 11 2011 09:08:24:
Pre-licked suckers are gross…BUT natural immunity to chicken pox is better than the vaccine b/c it lasts for life. There is just a more sane way to go about it. The vaccine is pushed so parents don’t have to take time off of work to tend to their kids. It’s all about MONEY, not the health of kids. So I am going to take my little one to a party when he is older and then test for immunity in middle school.
Comment by jennifer on Nov 11 2011 11:11:17:
FIFTY bucks? Thats a crazy amount to pay when they can have their kid lick a walmart shopping cart for free instead.
Comment by Chelsea Mills on Nov 28 2011 03:51:53:
Wow..