Chickenpox Vaccine Analysis

Varicella zoster is a highly infectious viral disease, known familiarly as chickenpox, which is a member of the herpes group of viruses. Varicella zoster is a DNA virus and is a member of the herpes virus group. Like other herpes viruses, VZV has the capacity to persist in the body after the primary (first) infection as a latent infection.It is usually a mild disease that lasts a short time in healthy children. However, it can be severe in adults and may cause serious or even fatal complications in people of any age. Chickenpox is a vaccine preventable disease, and vaccination is recommended as part of routine childhood immunisation. The vaccine should not be given to children with severe immune deficiency diseases, including HIV/AIDS, or to
The vaccine seems to highlight the profit motivations of the pharmaceutical industry by creating a vaccine against a childhood infection that is generally perceived as benign. since the vaccine’s approval in 1995, hospitalizations and deaths from the chickenpox have decreased “dramatically but no exact numbers have ever been shared. Now, studies are emerging that suggest that the chickenpox vaccine may do more harm than good, by increasing the population’s susceptibility to shingles, a related disease that carries far more potential for
The varicella vaccination provides protection against a primary varicella infection and has reduced its incidence by 70-90%, but it has also eliminated lifelong immunity, and removed persistent exposure from the environment. As a result, vaccine efficacy has declined to less than 80% without boosters, and susceptibility to shingles has increased. Shingles is not only more expensive in terms of medical costs than chickenpox, but also has more chances of complications.
The universal varicella vaccination program has resulted in increasing shingles incidence; it is highly likely that if the trend continues deaths by shingles will multiply. Adults with shingles have a 20 times higher mortality rate than a child who naturally develops chickenpox. Not coincidentally, in 2007, the CDC recommended a shingles vaccination in adults above 60 years of age.
Many who participate in the vaccine controversy advocate vaccines as a benefit for “the herd.” That is, we vaccinate everyone so that the weakest will not be exposed to disease (the infants, immune compromised, and elderly). In this case, vaccination appears to be detrimental for “the herd” by increasing susceptibility to a more dangerous disease - shingles - in society at large. In addition, an individual is committed to a potential lifelong vaccine regimen in order