The Health Information and Quality Agency has launched a public consultation on whether the chickenpox vaccine should be included in the routine childhood vaccination programme.
Chickenpox, or varicella, is an acute, contagious disease that usually affects children under the age of 10.
The disease is usually mild, but it can lead to serious complications that require hospitalization, reports RTE.
Anyone who has had chickenpox can get shingles.
The virus is highly contagious and an infected person can potentially infect 10 to 12 other people. About 55,000 cases come here in a year.
Dr Conor Teljeur, HIQA’s chief scientist, said vaccines against chickenpox have been available for more than 30 years and that the vaccine is already recommended in Ireland for non-immune people in certain risk groups.
He noted that while many countries include chickenpox vaccination in their childhood immunization schedules, the type of vaccine given, the number of doses and the timing of doses vary, reports RTE.
HIQA would like to hear the views of the Irish public on its draft Health Technology Assessment before it is finalized and invites the public to provide feedback on the HTA before it is finalised.
Dr Teljeur explained that the options are a single-dose or a two-dose schedule, with different due dates between the two.
“If you only give one dose, people’s immunity due to the vaccination wanes over time, it reduces and you become susceptible to getting chickenpox … what you’re really trying to do is reduce the likelihood of severe disease,” reports RTE.
He said that with the second dose it boosts immunity and is “really trying to eradicate the disease completely.”
He added that “”a lot of people will have a sore arm after the vaccination. They may have a fever for a day or a rash but the vast majority of people will not have anything more than that as a consequence of vaccination,” reports RTE.
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