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Vaccine Types

Chickenpox

What is it?

Varicella, or chickenpox, is one of the most common childhood diseases. Your child can get chickenpox easily if someone with chickenpox coughs or sneezes near them or if they touch the fluid from a chickenpox blister.

Why is it important?

Chickenpox infections may seem like a small nuisance, but in some chickenpox cases can cause severe complications. About one out of 1,000 children infected with varicella will develop severe pneumonia (infection of the lungs) or encephalitis (infection of the brain).

Progress

The varicella vaccine was licensed in the United States in 1995. Since that time, the number of hospitalizations and deaths from varicella has declined more than 90 percent. Before the vaccine, there were an average of 4 million cases and 10,500 to 13,000 hospitalizations as a result of chickenpox in the U.S. each year.

Chickenpox is not a rite of passage for children; it’s a potentially dangerous and always uncomfortable disease that can be prevented. Why would any parent want to sentence their child to having to endure a week of itchy skin, fever and life-long scars?

Vaccine Recommendations

Chickenpox vaccine is recommended for the following: 

• All children younger than 13 years of age (one dose at 12-15 months and a second dose at 4-6 years);
• Everyone 13 years and older who has never had chickenpox (two doses, given 4-8 weeks apart)

Side Effects

Receiving the chickenpox vaccine is much safer than getting chickenpox. Most people who get varicella vaccine do not have any problems with it. Mild side effects may include soreness, swelling fever or rash. Moderate or severe side effects are very rare.

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