As we have been doing for a few weeks today we are going to talk about another vaccine in order to have all the possible information. Since this week we have learned about the death of a girl due to complications from chickenpox, and being the hot topic for not being able to buy in Spain, we have decided to talk this week about chickenpox vaccine.
The chickenpox vaccine is given after 12 months, since before that age its effectiveness is limited (babies may still have maternal antibodies to chickenpox and, although this was not the case, it seems that the immune response is not enough before that age). Must be applied two doses, since for some years it has been shown that a memory is necessary to achieve almost complete protection.
Once the two doses are given, it is not necessary to put any memories into adulthood, so once a child is vaccinated, the protection lasts a lifetime.
What is chickenpox
As we said in the past, chickenpox is a disease caused by a virus called varicella-zoster, very common in childhood, which we know as the cause of plague the skin of lesions in the form of small blisters or vesicles.
The frequency of complications is not high, but neither can it be said to be minimal, as they may appear even in 15% of cases. Some of the complications can be serious, with encephalitis, sepsis due to secondary infections, pneumonia, etc. (Some readers of the blog have told us that they suffered facial paralysis).
87% of infections occur in children under 15 years old and that is why for a few years there is a chickenpox vaccine.
How to prevent the disease
Chickenpox has no possible prevention beyond the vaccine, since it is a disease that it is spread by air and by contact. You could try to prevent avoiding contact with children who have chickenpox, but when the first pimple, the first blister comes out, the child has been contagious for two days and it may be too late. Once the last blister has dried the virus stops transmitting.
So the best way to prevent the disease is by vaccinating children. The problem is that in order to be a minimally controlled disease, all children should be vaccinated, thus preventing them from becoming infected with each other and preventing adults from becoming infected (that some are not vaccinated or have passed the disease).
When is the vaccine given?
The guideline recommended by the AEP is a first dose at 12-15 months and a second dose at 2-3 years, although in reality the first dose can be given at any time and the second dose can be administered at 2 months of administering the first.
In my health center, for example, we had been putting the children at 12 months and at 18 months the second.
When a child reaches 12 years without having passed the disease and without having been vaccinated, social security covers the vaccine and he recommends it, to avoid catching the disease in adulthood, when it has more complications.
Does chickenpox have treatment?
As we have said, chickenpox is produced by a virus, and as we know, the viruses have no treatment. The only treatments that are prescribed have the mission of preventing the pimples from biting too much so that they do not scratch, since the wounds could become infected.
Where do you get the vaccine?
It is usually placed on the arm, in the deltoid muscle of the shoulder, subcutaneously.
Side effects of chickenpox vaccine
The chickenpox vaccine has mild adverse reactions and occur in few children. They are usually redness, hardening, pain and swelling in the injection area. It can also give tiredness, restlessness, nausea and fever.
In addition, a rash of granites or vesicles may appear in the area of the vaccine (such as a varicellite in the arm) or, more isolated, in the body. It can occur even after a month of the vaccine.
The vaccinated child also spreads
It should be borne in mind that when a child is vaccinated, the child can spread chickenpox over a period of six weeks. During that time it is recommended that you are not in contact with immunosuppressed or sick people, who have not passed chickenpox.
If the father or mother did not pass it in childhood, it is recommended to administer the vaccine at the same time it is given to the son or daughter, precisely so as not to spread it.
But in Spain it can no longer be bought
True, I have not yet managed to understand why, but the Medicines Agency blocked the distribution a few months ago and now it cannot be purchased. It is no longer that they stopped subsidizing it, which is something that only happened in some autonomous communities, is that you can't even buy privately. Parents, now, cannot decide whether to put it on their children or not.
Because of this measure, many parents are trying to get it in Navarra, where it can still be obtained, or outside of Spain, in Andorra, France or Portugal.
Which children should not get the chickenpox vaccine
Those who have a depressed immune system, since the vaccine is approved in healthy children, but it could be dangerous in that case.
