Offer children chickenpox vaccine with MMR, JCVI recommends

Children should be offered vaccination against varicella (chickenpox) as part of the routine childhood schedule at 12 and 18 months using the combined measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccine, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended.1Evidence from countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, and the US show that cases of varicella would decrease rapidly and dramatically if the vaccine was rolled out. Complications of varicella, which can result in hospital admission or other serious outcomes, should also be prevented, the committee said.A catch up programme for children under 5 is also recommended to help reduce cases, although more work is needed to say whether this would be cost effective for children aged 6 to 12.Gayatri Amirthalingam, deputy director of public health programmes at the UK Health Security Agency, said, “JCVI’s recommendations will help make chickenpox a problem of the past and bring the UK in line with…
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