Chickenpox vaccine should be administered to children, Hiqa advises

The chickenpox vaccine should be administered to children, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has advised Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

There is “clear and consistent evidence from a strong evidence base that the chickenpox vaccine is both safe and effective in preventing chickenpox and its complications,” Hiqa said.

Adding the chickenpox vaccine to the childhood immunisation programme would cost €13 million – €28 million over the first five years, depending on whether one or two doses are given, making it “likely to be cost effective”, it said.

The assessment of the use of vaccine was requested by the Department of Health following a policy recommendation from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac).

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Chickenpox is a common, highly infectious disease mainly affecting children less than 10 years old. While most children are only unwell for a short period, chickenpox can result in long-term skin scarring and, less commonly, serious complications.

Of the 58,000 cases of chickenpox every year in Ireland, approximately one in 250 cases will be hospitalised with associated complications, Hiqa said. Approximately one third of people who have had chickenpox will develop shingles at some point during their lifetime due to reactivation of the virus.

“One-dose of the vaccine will reduce severe disease including hospitalisations and overall occurrences. Two doses have the potential to further reduce the number of cases and eliminate chickenpox,” Dr Conor Teljeur, Hiqa’s chief scientist, said.

“We found that vaccination against chickenpox is likely to represent a good use of healthcare resources. When societal costs, such as leave from paid work to care for sick children, are considered, we found that vaccination would be cost saving. Adding the vaccine to the childhood immunisation schedule would cost between €13 million and €28 million over the first five years, depending on whether one or two doses are given.”

Hiqa’s review of international practices found that while several countries have offered the vaccine as part of their childhood immunisation programmes for many years, the dosing schedules vary.

Hiqa said it has submitted its health technology assessment on the vaccine’s use as advice to the Minister for Health and the Health Service Executive to inform a decision regarding the inclusion of the chickenpox vaccine in the childhood immunisation programme.