The AMAQ and the Queensland premier have lashed out at parents holding 'pox parties' to infect their children with chickenpox. Credit:iStock The mother-of-two said she had good reactions along with "a lot of negative feedback" after her plans were nationally publicised on Sunday. Some of that feedback came from Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who called the gatherings "alarming", and AMA Queensland president Chris Zappala. "It is a worrying new trend. There is risk attached to these infections and [the chance of being infected at a party] is completely unavoidable," Dr Zappala said on Sunday. He said anti-vaccination parents were putting the community's health at risk given potentially serious complications could arise from illnesses such as chickenpox and the chances of allergic or other reactions from vaccines were negligible.

Brisbane mother Hollie Singleton has cancelled her "pox party". Credit:Facebook "This is really the absolute opposite of what we want to see - we can do better," he said. Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said parents deliberately exposing their children to a potentially fatal disease was "appalling behaviour". "She definitely is putting these children's lives at risk," Dr Young said on Monday. Ms Singleton said she understood the health concerns, before comparing chickenpox fatalities with deaths from the flu.

The influenza vaccine needs to be redesigned and re-administered every year and sometimes fails to target the most prevalent strains. On her Facebook page, Ms Singleton denied being against vaccination, instead characterising herself as "pro-choice". She told Sunrise she hadn't vaccinated either of her children, both younger than five and a half, because she "did not want to vaccinate before their body was ready for immunity". "I actually have my opinion about the flu vaccine, the chickenpox vaccine and shockingly enough, the measles, but polio yes (we will vaccinate for)," she said, adding that she would also consider rubella and diphtheria. The government recommends children be given a free combined measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox vaccination from 18 months.

Dr Young characterised "pox parties" as "extremely irresponsible". "It's one thing to choose not to vaccinate your children but then it's a totally different thing to deliberately expose your child to a very serious disease," she said. "When we didn't have a vaccine, of course all children got it because it was so contagious and there wasn't anything you could do about it and unfortunately back then, 10 years or so ago, seven or eight Australian children died every single year from chickenpox." - With AAP Don't miss important news stories. Like us on Facebook