Your child will need to get the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine starting at 12 to 15 months old. Learn more about the shot and why it's so important.
What is the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine?
The chickenpox vaccine is made with live (but weakened) varicella-zoster virus and prevents chickenpox in about 90 percent of people who get both doses.[1]
A small percentage of people who get the chickenpox vaccine may get the virus even though they were vaccinated. Such so-called "breakthrough" infections are usually milder than normal chickenpox and have fewer lesions.
What does the chickenpox vaccine protect your child from?
Chickenpox, which is caused by the varicella virus, used to be one of the most common childhood diseases. In the early 1990s, before the vaccine became available, there were about 4 million cases of the highly contagious virus, about 10,500 to 13,000 hospitalizations, and around 100 to 150 deaths.[2]
Research shows that the chickenpox vaccine led to the prevention of more than 91 million cases, and since the start of the vaccination program, chickenpox has declined by more than 97 percent.[3]
Chickenpox symptoms include an itchy, blister-like rash that eventually turns into scabs all over the body, fever, drowsiness, loss of appetite and headache. It is easily spread through touching or breathing in the virus particles that come from chickenpox blisters, and possibly through tiny droplets from infected people that get into the air after they breathe or talk.
Though usually mild, it occasionally causes more serious problems such as inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), pneumonia, bacterial infections of the skin, bloodstream infections (sepsis) and, in rare instances, death.
Newborns, adolescents, adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are much more likely to develop serious complications. Varicella can also cause shingles in adults, which can be quite serious and very painful. But children who receive the chickenpox vaccine are at an 80 percent lower risk of developing shingles later in life compared to unvaccinated children.
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How many chickenpox shots will my child need?
Two doses of the vaccine are recommended, the first at 12 to 15 months and a second dose between 4 and 6 years of age.
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