November 29th, 2011

From WebMD Health News:

Chickenpox infection can be life-threatening for infants who are too young to receive the chickenpox vaccine. The good news is that the routine vaccination of children aged 1 and older has shown spillover benefits for infants.

The U.S. began recommending a single dose of the chickenpox (varicella) vaccine for children aged 12 months and older in 1995. A second dose was added to the immunization schedule in 2006.

Before the vaccine was recommended, infants were four times more likely to die from chickenpox compared to children aged 1 to 14.

Not anymore.

There has been close to a 90% drop in the rate of chickenpox among infants from 1995 to 2008, even though they are not eligible for the vaccine.

Contine reading about chickenpox at WebMD Health News