Mum of girl who died from chickenpox welcomes vaccine plan

A mother whose three-year-old daughter died from chickenpox has encouraged people to get their children vaccinated.

Elana, from Thurrock, Essex, contracted the disease in 2009 and died six days later at Basildon Hospital after it had spread to her lungs.

Angie Bunce-Mason spoke about her campaign to raise awareness following the recent announcement that all young children in the UK will be offered a free chickenpox vaccine by the NHS from January.

She said: “I hope that it will help other people make that decision to have their child vaccinated and protect them.”

Ms Bunce-Mason said her daughter was a “healthy three year old” and had only been to see a doctor for her routine vaccinations.

Elana contracted chickenpox on a Sunday, and her mother took her to the GP on Friday as she was still lethargic and not eating.

“Like most people it was a rite of passage, and I was like ‘great she is getting it out of the way before she goes to school’,” Ms Bunce-Mason said.

“I had no clue it could be so fatal.”

The GP sent Elana to the hospital after they suspected she had contracted pneumonia.

After arriving at the hospital, Elana suffered a cardiac arrest early the next morning.

Ms Bunce-Mason said: “After an hour’s worth of resuscitation we had to make the decision to stop.

“She ended up having a post-mortem and the post-mortem revealed that she had chickenpox internally.”

Ms Bunce-Mason said she started campaigning 16 years ago to raise awareness on the virus and said the recent announcement “could have not been better news” for her and her family.

The vaccine will be given as two doses, at 12 and 18 months of age, combined with the existing MMR jab which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

Until now, parents who wanted to protect their child against the chickenpox varicella virus, which causes red itchy spots, have paid privately.

Dr Sarah Pitt, a microbiologist at the University of Brighton, said the vaccination being available was a “very good thing”.

She said: “I think people have forgotten how nasty chickenpox can actually be.

“The vaccine will save lives and save suffering in children, which is always going to be a good thing.”