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Call for double dose of chickenpox vaccine
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AS the city reaches the peak chickenpox season, a pediatrician is calling for immunizing children with a double dose of the vaccine to provide more protection against the virus.
Zeng Mei, a doctor with Fudan University’s Children’s Hospital, suggested a double-dose vaccine regime after spotting increasing numbers of vaccinated children being infected with chickenpox in recent years.
Officials from the Shanghai Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the center was also studying the effects of double-dosing, but the key priority was to promote full coverage of the single-dose vaccination by listing it on the local immunization program.
The city government doesn’t generally contribute to the cost of chickenpox vaccinations, but more people pay for chickenpox vaccinations than any other vaccination in Shanghai. Most children who have past their first birthday receive one dose of the vaccine. About 93 percent children, aged around 1, in the city received the vaccine in 2016, according to a Shanghai CDC survey.
Zeng said the odds of developing chickenpox had greatly declined since the local health authority began to recommend the vaccine about two decades ago, particularly after coverage was expanded across the city in 2005.
Now, however, a trend had developed of more vaccinated children becoming infected, Zeng said. “Though with lighter symptoms, the infection will still affect the children’s life and study.”
A study by Yale University found that the odds of developing chickenpox was 95 percent lower in children who had received two doses of the vaccine compared with those who had received only one.
Hu Jiayu, a senior doctor at Shanghai CDC, said the single-dose vaccine had greatly lowered casualty and occurrences of severe cases of chickenpox since its introduction in 1997.
“We highly recommend all parents to take unvaccinated children to receive the dose before they enter kindergarten or school,” She added the center was also studying and observing effects of the double-dose regime, including potential side effects and interval times between two doses.
“But most of all, we are working to promote the full coverage of the single-dose vaccine, by listing it into the city’s immunization program and providing the vaccination for free.”
Hu added that since June 2013, the city had been providing emergency vaccines for schools with chickenpox outbreaks to prevent any spread of the infection.
Children who had never had the vaccine or those who have not had it for five years can have the vaccination at no cost.
The infection is more likely to occur in late winter or early spring, with an incidence of 75 in every 100,000 people in 2016, up 5 percent on 2015.
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