Updated Sept 2018
Chicken Pox Disease and Vaccine Information
See also: Varicella Zoster (Chickenpox) Disease and Vaccine from NVIC
PARENTS:
The “already had chicken pox” – NO vaccines, thanks! form for school is here.
Chicken pox (Varicella) vaccine consists of a genetically engineered virus made from human & guinea pig fibroblasts. Fibroblasts are immature fiber-producing cell of connective tissue capable of differentiating into a chondroblast, collagenoblast, or osteoblast. Merck’s vaccine contains residual proteins from these human and guinea pig cells. Ingredients include: sucrose, phosphate, glutamate, gelatin, monosodium L-glutamate, sodium phosphate dibasic, potassium phosphate monobasic, potassium chloride, sodium phosphate monobasic, potassium chloride, EDTA, residual components of MRC-5 cells including DNA and protein, neomycin, fetal bovine serum, human diploid cell cultures (WI-38), embryonic guinea pig cell cultures, human embryonic lung cultures. (Source: CDC).
Chicken Pox Vaccine was added to Vermont school “requirements” in 2008. That requirement doubled the Vermont vaccine exemption rate.
More Recommended Reading:
The stage was set to claim that unvaccinated children are a risk was set a long time ago (Read Article-2008) and now parents are facing off with health authorities over state mandates for school children.
One major consideration is that “Merck’s VARIVAX vaccine has a high failure rate and mass vaccination of American children has driven the disease into atypical older age groups where it can be far more dangerous.” – from: Chicken Pox: The Disease vs. The Vaccine.
New England Journal of Medicine, 2007: Loss of Vaccine-Induced Immunity to Varicella over Time
Journal of Infectious Disease in 2013, Vaccine-strain herpes zoster (HZ) can occur after varicella vaccination – and is 10 times more frequent in vaccinated children 0-2 years old as compared to not vaccinated peers.
French Doctor: Chicken Pox is A Good Thing When Caught at a Young Age. Article, May 3, 2013
Chicken Pox is one of the least defensible vaccines on the schedule. The documented rate of vaccine provoked seizures dramatically outpaces the natural infection risk.
Chicken pox is not, and never has been, a public health threat. It has been described as a “convenience vaccine”.
We are already seeing shingles in young persons and will see more in adults because the immunity from the vaccine is not equivalent to natural immunity.
Stroke after chicken pox vaccination; see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15580216?dopt=Abstract
Note: To “debunk this myth” a retrospective study was done through the Vaccine Safety Datalink (which is NOT the VAERS system but an industry-set-up system), removing many patients form the cohort, and then declaring the vaccine perfectly safe. See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19171574
Severe Varicella Caused by Varicella-Vaccine Strain in a Child With Significant T-Cell Dysfunction; see http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/120/5/e1345.long
“This case report illustrates the fact that, although VZV vaccine has been proven to be safe in immunocompetent patients, it is potentially dangerous in patients with altered immunity, especially those with severely suppressed cell-mediated immunity, in whom it can produce long-lasting severe generalized eruption or organ dissemination. Although it may not be cost-effective to perform routine immunodeficiency screening in all apparently healthy children who present for vaccination with LAVV, particular attention should be paid to clues such as abnormal anthropomorphic data to detect patients who might be at increased risk of immunodeficiency and, therefore, at increased risk of adverse effects from vaccination with LAVV. This case also highlights the fact that if immunodeficiency is suspected, assessment of function in addition to phenotype should be conducted before excluding it.”
Vaccine Shedding – consult package insert 18/614
http://www.pdr.net/full-prescribing-information/varivax?druglabelid=397#i4i_section_id_5471b8f9-b7a1-4c7e-8891-cfa66855a128
coinfection – recombination question is open? http://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/18996045/A_case_of_varicella_caused_by_co_infection_with_two_different_genotypes_of_varicella_zoster_virus_
Timeline: 1995: CP (Varicella) Vaccine launch
2006: One dose of varicella vaccine does not prevent school outbreaks: is it time for a second dose?
Fatal wild-type varicella-zoster virus encephalitis without a rash in a vaccinated child. Varicella-zoster virus encephalitis should be considered in the differential diagnosis for children presenting with acute neurologic symptoms, even vaccine recipients. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22982982