Teenage Reform council leader hits out at Labour's vaccine plans claiming chickenpox is just 'part of life'
The 19-year-old leader of Warwickshire County Council has expressed scepticism about vaccines - after being asked by LBC whether he would encourage local parents with young children to take up a new chickenpox vaccination.
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George Finch, a Reform UK councillor, expressed his doubts about the new chickenpox vaccine, saying "chickenpox parties get it out of the way" and that the virus is "part of life".
The jab, which currently costs around £150 at private clinics and pharmacies, will form part of a new combined immunisation on the childhood vaccination programme.
Ministers hope it will not only protect some youngsters from severe complications from the virus, but also prevent parents from taking time off work to look after their children when they become infected.
Mr Finch made the sceptical remarks about the vaccine while speaking with LBC reporter Ruth Wood on Friday.
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He told LBC: "I think the way they were doing it originally was fine, wasn't it? Chickenpox parties, you know, it gets it out the way when they're young.
"I had chickenpox, I'm still here, I think it's just a part of life.
"I'm not a medical expert but I don't know why they're now encouraging it when it was fine for years and years and years and years.
"The doctors used to encourage chickenpox parties. So I don't know what's changed ideologically at the moment when it comes to vaccines and chickenpox.
"I'm going to have to look more into that, actually. I'd like to know more about that."
In rare cases, chickenpox can cause swelling of the brain, serious lung inflammation and stroke, sometimes leading to death.
The chickenpox vaccine – also known as the varicella jab – will form part of a new combined MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella and varicella) vaccine.
It will be offered at GP practices from January 2026, and is expected to give protection to around 500,000 children every year.
It is the first time protection against another disease has been added to the routine childhood vaccination programme since 2015.
Local Warwickshire GP Dr Jeff Foster has rebuffed Mr Finch's remarks and urges people who are unsure about up-to-date medical evidence to defer their opinion to experts.
Dr Foster said: "Nothing has changed ideologically in response to doctors' opinions over vaccinations for chickenpox. It is about an update and newer understanding of the evidence base and impact that chickenpox can have on children. The argument that 40 to 60 years ago doctors used to advocate chickenpox parties also holds no weight whatsoever.
"For example, 100 years ago doctors used to give cough medicine that contained morphine in it. But we don't do that anymore for obvious reasons. Prior to that, doctors also used to do things like advise cigarettes as parts of treatment, but of course we don't do that either.
"The idea that you can say, 'well, chickenpox doesn't need a vaccination because when I was a kid it was all fine and it was all OK then' just means that we're simply not staying up to date with advances in medical research and evidence. If we did the stuff we did 40 years ago, we'd of course never move on.
"I would always advise that if anyone, a councillor or not, is unsure about what the up-to-date medical evidence around a topic is, they should defer their opinion to an appropriate expert who is able to comment appropriately".
Stephen Kinnock, Minister of State for Care & Labour MP for Aberafan Maesteg, told LBC's Nick Ferrari on Friday morning that vaccine hesitancy is a "cause for concern".
Not a single childhood vaccine in England last year met the target needed to ensure diseases cannot spread among youngsters, according to new figures.
The uptake for all childhood vaccines - referring to the number of children injected with the crucial vaccines - aims to reach a target of 95 per cent.
But none of the main childhood vaccines have reached this target in England in 2024/25, new figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show.
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"Sadly there is a lot of disinformation and misinformation out there," Mr Kinnock said.
"People going on social media and talking rubbish about vaccines and that is not helping. We are looking to combat that and it's a really big part of our.
"This shift from sickness to prevention is one of the major threats shifts at the heart of our ten year health plan."
He added: "We've got to remind people of the world class quality of our scientists and of our medical professionals and to be clear that the safety and health of our population is our number one concern and we will always do everything that's required to protect them."