The United Kingdom recommends applying the chickenpox vaccine to children
Britain issued its first recommendation on Tuesday to immunize children against chickenpox, proposing that children between 1 year and 18 months receive two doses of the vaccine for this highly contagious disease.
Chickenpox
Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization on Tuesday issued its first recommendation for immunizing children against chickenpox. This suggestion marks a milestone in the country’s vaccination policy, decades after other nations, such as the United States, Canada and Australia, already widely rolled out the vaccine.
Currently, in Britain, those who want to protect themselves against chickenpox must shell out around £150 ($184), AP reported.
The committee proposed that children between 1 year and 18 months receive two doses of the vaccine, which also provides protection against measles, mumps and rubella. Andrew Pollard, president of the vaccine expert group, highlighted the seriousness of chickenpox and its complications, which can lead to hospitalizations and even death.
Pollard backed the recommendation based on “decades of evidence” from other countries demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. The United States, a pioneer in this regard, implemented its vaccination program against chickenpox in 1995, managing to describe cases in the country as “rare”, with less than 150,000 cases and 30 deaths per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Disease Prevention.
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Despite British experts estimating more than 650,000 cases of chickenpox in England and Wales, the disease is still not the subject of a widespread vaccination program in the UK. Chickenpox, highly contagious and primarily affecting children, presents symptoms such as an itchy rash, blisters and fever.
Chickenpox can have fatal consequences
Although symptoms last about a week in most cases, the virus can cause serious complications such as pneumonia, encephalitis, and even death. However, two doses of the vaccine offer more than 90% protection against the disease.
On the horizon of government decisions, the British government will consider the recommendation to implement the chickenpox vaccine. Britain’s National Health Service has previously raised concerns about the introduction of the vaccine, arguing that it could leave some adults vulnerable to shingles if unvaccinated children contract the virus as adults.
Shingles, more serious than chickenpox, could pose a risk to those not immunized during childhood. However, experts highlighted that the British government already offers the shingles vaccine to adults at risk of contracting the disease.
Dr. Gayatri Amirthalingam, deputy director of public health programs at Britain’s Health Security Agency, emphasized that implementing the new chickenpox vaccine recommendations would be a significant step toward eradicating this problem in the future.
With these guidelines, it is hoped that chickenpox will soon be a concern of the past in Britain, providing an extra layer of protection to the population, especially the youngest. The adoption of this measure also aligns with the global trend of strengthening vaccination programs to prevent preventable diseases, marking progress in the country’s public health.
