A child in Seattle, Washington receives the chickenpox vaccine in 2019. Unlike countries such as the UK and Denmark, the US, among other countries, regularly provides children with chickenpox vaccine.
Vaccines can pose unwarranted health hazards, but whether or not they confer immunity against chickenpox is the subject of genuine medical debate.
It is a regular jab in childhood in several countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, and about half of Europe, but includes the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Portugal, and some Scandinavian countries. There are concerns that introducing immunization during childhood may be beneficial for those who receive it, but may be harmful for others, such as the elderly who are at risk for shingles.
Fortunately, there is growing evidence that such harm does not actually occur. Moreover, on the whole, vaccines do more good than harm, according to an analysis released today.
Chickenpox is caused by a highly contagious virus called varicella zoster. Most people who have not been vaccinated are infected in childhood, and the disease is usually mild, with the main symptom being an itchy, blistering rash.
In fact, the more young people catch it, the more mild their experience tends to be. I have.
However, viruses can occasionally cause severe symptoms, such as bacterial infections, which can even be fatal, especially in people with weak immune systems.
When the first chickenpox vaccine was developed 30 years ago, one concern was that some parents might not get their children vaccinated, even though the children who were vaccinated benefited. . Routine vaccination programs mean that population-level immunity is relatively high, so those who miss may not encounter the virus until they are teenagers or older, making it more severe than childhood infection. increased risk of complications of
Another concern was the impact on older people. After infection with chickenpox, the viral DNA remains in nerve cells and can reactivate later in life, causing the painful and debilitating symptoms of shingles. It is believed that chickenpox infection in children exposes adults to small amounts of the virus, boosting their immune system and making them less likely to develop shingles.
Despite concerns, the United States began offering vaccines to children on a regular basis in 1995, and other countries later followed suit. suggesting that there was
Several studies over the past few years have shown that shingles cases have not increased in the United States and other countries. , found that the reduction in shingles risk was less than previously assumed, dropping by about 27% over 10 to 20 years.
Data from such studies are now incorporated into a standard set of equations that predict the impact of vaccines on infection and disease rates. It has been used for 50 years to model the effect if the vaccine were offered regularly to Danish children.
Researchers, including scientists from Merck, one manufacturer of the vaccine, and Denmark’s Aarhus University Hospital, found that shingles cases increased by about 1% in the first few years after the introduction of vaccination, while Denmark had no vaccine. Without continued vaccination, after 50 years the total number of cases would be 9% lower than expected.
It has also been found to reduce the number of people of all ages who die from chickenpox or require hospital care by more than 90%. .
Manjiri Pawaskar of Merck & Co. in Roway, New Jersey, said the vaccination program would prevent some of the less visible harms from the virus, such as children missing school and parents having to miss work. says it can also. “It puts a lot of strain on caregivers,” she says.
Several countries, including the United Kingdom and Denmark, are now considering adding the chickenpox vaccine to their routine childhood injections. Allowing for the individual cost of vaccines means that uptake is low. The UK’s vaccine advisory board, the Joint Commission on Immunization and Immunization, will take into account the new data, said a spokesperson for the UK’s Health Security Agency.
For adults who have experienced chickenpox as a mild illness, it may be tempting to ignore the need for vaccination against this condition. Even if it affects only a small part of the population, it can cause considerable damage to the entire country and is worth taking action.
Perhaps it’s time for more countries to stop giving the chickenpox virus a free pass.
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