The NHS has been advised that all children receive a chickenpox vaccine aged 12 and 18 months. The Government will now decide whether the vaccine will be added to routine jabs that are offered to children.
Until now, most parents had to go privately and pay up to £200 to protect their child against chickenpox.
Chickenpox vaccination programme
The chickenpox vaccine does not guarantee lifetime immunity, but it does greatly reduce the risk of someone developing chickenpox or having a bad case. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has also recommended a temporary catch-up programme for slightly older children who’ve missed out on this initial rollout.
Chickenpox can be more severe if you catch it for the first time as a teen or an adult rather than as a young child. Many parents therefore hold “chickenpox parties” so their children catch it early.
According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), there were far fewer cases of chickenpox during the pandemic due to restrictions on socialising, meaning there is currently a larger pool of children without immunity. The catch-up programme is designed to offer them protection.
Concerns over shingles
Concerns the vaccine programme could inadvertently increase shingles risk for older people are mislaid, says experts. Shingles, a painful skin rash condition, is caused by the same virus as chickenpox – varicella zoster virus (VZV). VZV stays in the body for life and can reactivate, causing shingles, if your immune defences are low.
If you have already had chickenpox in the past, being exposed to more as an adult boosts your immunity to shingles. However, vaccinating children against chickenpox removes much of this natural boosting, but experience from other countries suggests it doesn’t lead to more shingles cases. The US, Canada and many European nations have been doing it for years.
Responses
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, chairman of the JCVI, said: “Chickenpox is well known, and most parents will probably consider it a common and mild illness among children. But for some babies, young children and even adults, chickenpox or its complications can be very serious, resulting in hospitalisation and even death. Adding the varicella vaccine to the childhood immunisation programme will dramatically reduce the number of chickenpox cases in the community, leading to far fewer of those tragic, more serious cases. We now have decades of evidence from the US and other countries showing that introducing this programme is safe, effective and will have a really positive impact on the health of young children.”
Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam from the UK Health Security Agency said: “Introducing a vaccine against chickenpox would prevent most children getting what can be quite a nasty illness – and for those who would experience more severe symptoms, it could be a life saver. “The JCVI’s recommendations will help make chickenpox a problem of the past and bring the UK into line with a number of other countries that have well-established programmes.”
Helen Bedford, professor of children’s health at the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, said many parents would welcome the vaccine on the NHS. “Although chickenpox is usually a mild infection, children have an itchy rash and often a fever which makes them feel very miserable. Chickenpox infection can also result in serious complications such as nasty bacterial skin infections, pneumonia and inflammation of the brain. Providing our children with this additional vaccine would be a welcome addition to the highly successful UK vaccination programme.” She said.
Curia’s NHS Innovation and Life Sciences Commission
Jointly chaired by former Life Sciences and Innovation Minister, Lord James O’Shaughnessy and former Deputy Medical Director at NHS England Professor Mike Bewick, the Commission seeks to identify examples of good practice in innovation, draw learning and consider how implementation plans across the sector can improve the lives of patients. By bringing together key strands of policy and developing effective implementation strategies through extensive research, the Commission seeks to see change at every level within the NHS.
