“As a rule, it [chickenpox] is a very insignificant disease. By that I mean that it is not of sufficient importance to worry about.”
—John Tilden, M.D.
The first vaccine for chickenpox was licensed in 1995.650 Prior to 1995 chickenpox infections in the United States affected nearly all individuals by adulthood producing lifelong natural immunity.651 Since the introduction of the vaccine, the age distribution of individuals infected has shifted from infants and children to adults.652 If the virus is contracted in early childhood it is a benign infection.653 When adults are infected the illness is much more severe and life-threatening.654
Is the vaccine effective? The vaccine provides immunity for six years.655 After six years booster shots are required which only provide immunity for one year and the current vaccine has up to a twenty percent failure rate.656 Children are 2.5 times (250 percent!) more likely to develop chickenpox if they are vaccinated with the MMR vaccine within thirty days of receiving the chickenpox vaccine.657 The current vaccination schedule recommends that children be vaccinated with MMR and chickenpox at twelve months of age and again at four years of age.658 In fact, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) “strongly recommends that varicella [chickenpox] vaccine be administered simultaneously with all other vaccines recommended at 12 to 18 months of age.”659
