According to a new study from the University of Adelaide, thousands of Australian children have avoided hospital premises since the widespread introduction of a chickenpox vaccine.
The chickenpox vaccine is a very effective shot that can protect nearly anyone who receives the vaccine from catching chickenpox. Two doses of the vaccine are about 98% effective at preventing chickenpox.
Also known as varicella vaccine, due to the fact that chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. The vaccine is basically made from a live but weakened, or attenuated, virus.
Viruses that have been attenuated are less virulent than viruses that are not. Although the virus in the chickenpox vaccine is generally incapable of causing a disease, it still stimulates a response from the body’s immune system. That response is what gives someone who’s had a shot for chickenpox immunity or protection from the illness.
Meanwhile, the study has found out that the number of hospitalized children due to chicken pox or shingles has fallen by 68 per cent since 2006.
A higher level of immunisation would have spared most children from severe chicken pox, which in a few cases required intensive care treatment,” she added.
Chicken pox is a potentially-deadly contagious infection easily spread through the air of direct contact with skin lesions caused by the disease because of that Professor Marshall suggested that, at least one dose of varicella vaccine in eligible children and in other members of their household has the potential to prevent almost all severe cases of chicken pox in Australia.
Not only does this have the potential to save lives, it also saves millions of dollars in hospital admission costs each year.”
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