In recent days, a chickenpox epidemic has taken hold in 11 French regionsAccording to the Sentinelles network, which monitors the epidemics raging in France, this childhood disease even affects certain regions (such as Picardy or Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur) in a particularly strong way. What to wonder, when one has never caught it, if it is advisable to be vaccinated.
Chickenpox vaccine: recommendations
Chickenpox is usually a mild disease that heals in less than 15 days. However, this highly contagious disease can sometimes lead, in more vulnerable people, to complications such as secondary skin infections, pulmonary infections or neurological damage. However, the vaccine is not recommended routinely, even during times of epidemics.
In the new 2013 vaccination schedule, vaccination against chickenpox is recommended only:
– for adolescents from 12 to 18 years old without a history of chickenpox;
– for women of childbearing age and for women who have just had a baby and who have not had the disease (provided they are on contraceptives);
– for adults who have been exposed to the disease (and in this case the vaccine must be carried out within three days of exposure to the virus);
– for professionals in contact with early childhood;
– for children who are candidates for an organ transplant.
