Two Doses of Chicken Pox Vaccine Very Effective, Say Yale Researchers

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Two Doses of Chicken Pox Vaccine Very Effective, Say Yale Researchers

Study confirms CDC's recommendation for two doses

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Weir

January 5, 2011

http://www.latimes.com/health/hc-weir-yale-vaccine-0305-20110105,0,1174883.colum\

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Yale researchers recommend a double dose of the chicken pox vaccine to prevent

illness in children.

According to a study to appear in the Feb. 1 issue of the Jounal of Infectious

Diseases, a second dose of the vaccine lessens the risk of getting chicken pox

by 95 percent. The study confirms a 2006 policy of the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention that recommended a second dose.

In 1995, the CDC recommended one dose for children aged 1 to 13, a policy that

led to a significant reduction in chicken pox cases, preventing the sickness in

86 percent of children. In 2006, the CDC issued a new recommendation, this time

for two doses.

Eugene D. Shapiro, M.D., professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Yale and

fellow researchers at Yale and Columbia University, examined the data of 71

children aged 4 and over who had gotten chicken pox. Of these, 93 percent had

received only one dose of the vaccine, and 7 percent had received no dose at

all. None had received two doses.

" The findings confirm that, at least in the short term, the policy of routinely

administering two rather than one dose of varicella vaccine is sensible, "

Shapiro said in a press release. " Other countries that are routinely immunizing

children with varicella vaccine may consider changing to a two-dose regimen. "