'My life could have ended when I was two' - chickenpox vaccine welcomed

A teenager who had to learn how to walk again after contracting chickenpox when she was two has welcomed new free vaccinations against the illness.

Emily Walls, 18, developed septicaemia and was on a ventilator after getting chickenpox more than 15 years ago.

Children in Northern Ireland are now being offered the service for the first time.

From January 2026, a combined MMRV vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella – the clinical term for chickenpox - will be available for eligible children as part of the routine childhood immunisation programme.

Chickenpox, which causes a spotty rash, is a common infection that spreads easily and mostly affects children. It usually gets better on its own after one to two weeks but for some, like Emily, it can be serious.

"I didn't know at the time how sick I was, but I know now that I was in ICU and the doctors, and my parents didn't know if I was going to live," said Emily.

After spending a couple of months in hospital she was discharged as a wheelchair user and had to relearn how to walk.

Emily still has the physical and mental scars of being so ill but feels lucky to be here.

"My life could have ended when I was two, but it didn't."

"I remember lying in the hospital bed and seeing mum and dad sitting next to me and I just wanted to be held and lifted out of the bed. I wasn't allowed to because of the various tubes," she said.

Her earliest memory is of being sick and it had an impact on her childhood.

"I'd be leaving school to go to appointments and I wouldn't be able to eat everything that my friends would because I had different dietary restrictions. I was gluten and dairy free for a good part of my childhood. I had to take different medications and I had scars that they didn't," she said.

She wants to study medicine to become a paediatric doctor having been inspired by the doctors who cared for her.

And given her experience she said it is "really important to prevent chickenpox where possible" and get the vaccine.

"You don't think you'll be the one who ends up in intensive care and told you're not going to live the night.

"That was me and my family and none of us expected it, but it happened," she said.

Emily's mother Angela Walls recalled how "overnight our lives were turned upside down".

She said within the space of a few days, their "perfectly normal, happy toddler" became "lifeless," and they were "told to expect that she might not survive".

"Whenever she first came out in chickenpox, I wasn't that concerned because there is that complacency where you think 'it's just a normal childhood illness and we'll get through it'," she said.

But said she was "completely shocked" at how sick her child became and said it was "not an illness to be taken lightly".

She would encourage parents to get their children vaccinated "because you would never forgive yourself if you didn't vaccinate your child, and then they ended up potentially in a critical condition or with serious complications".

Since Emily's experience Mrs Walls has got her youngest daughter vaccinated because she "wasn't going to gamble in any way again".

"It was available and has been around for years. It's just new here. So, I wasn't concerned about its safety," she said.

Dr Sharon Christie, a consultant paediatrician in paediatric infectious diseases at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, said the vaccine being offered is "something that I have wanted to happen for a long time".

"Over the past 21 years as a consultant here I have seen children develop pneumonitis or inflammation of their lungs as a consequence of chickenpox, therefore needing admission to intensive care.

"I've seen children who have had strokes after chickenpox and I have also seen immunocompromised children particularly who have died as a consequence of chickenpox infection," she said.

While, in most children, chickenpox is a mild disease, Dr Christie said that "the picture that we see in the hospital is quite different".

She sees the sickest children in Northern Ireland.

"People might say oh, but you're only advocating for this vaccine because you see the very worst of cases," she said.

"If I can encourage parents to have their child vaccinated and we can prevent one death or one child going to intensive care or one child having significant scarring, or one child needing to be ventilated because a significant number of the population have decided to have their child vaccinated, then I think that is a good thing," she said.

Dr Christie also treated Emily when she was in hospital.

"There were points in her care where I wasn't sure that Emily would be here today".

Rachel Spiers, the Immunisation and Vaccination Programme Manager at the Public Health Agency, said that one dose of the varicella vaccine is 93% effective and two doses are 97% effective.

"It's really very effective at preventing chickenpox cases in the first place.

"It will also prevent serious consequences if the child does go on to develop chicken pox and it really reduces the likelihood of hospital admission and any other serious consequences," she said.

Parents will be contacted by their GP if their child is eligible for the MMRV vaccine.