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Daily Dose: Chicken Pox Vaccine

Aired February 19, 2004 - 11:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Chicken pox used to be one of those dreaded childhood rights of passage, but a chicken pox vaccine has been available for about nine years now. A new study looks at how effective the vaccine has been.
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more details in our "Daily Dose" of health news.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it turns out a lot of things have changed since I got the chicken pox as a kid. There is a vaccine out there. In fact, it's been around since 1995, and it's pretty effective -- about 87 percent effective -- but it depends on when you get it and how long it's been since you got it.

Researchers in the "Journal of American Medical Association" decided to put the vaccine to the test to figure out just how effective it is over time. Here is what they found after following 339 children. At about one year, the vaccine was very effective -- about 97 percent effective. Two to eight years, the vaccine tends to dip in terms of its protection to about 84 percent, so some dip there.

Most of the researchers we talked to said they were a bit surprised by that, that they thought the vaccine would be good for life. But, in fact, that even if a child does get the chicken pox infection after the vaccine, that that infection is going to be much milder.

They also had some interesting findings in terms of when a child should get this chicken pox vaccine. The current recommendations are as follows: The American Academy of Pediatrics says the chicken pox vaccine is most effective between the ages of 12 and 18 months.

The study shed some interesting light on that though. Take a look at these numbers. If a child gets the vaccine before the age of 15 months, the effectiveness at one year is about 73 percent. The effectiveness is 99 percent, though, if it's at 15 months to 18 months or older.

So, if the child is waiting until about 15 months of age, that might be a lot better in terms of overall protection. We may see a change in the guidelines.

Finally, there has always been this contention: Should you get the vaccine or should you just let your child get the chicken pox? Certainly for the most part, most kids will just get through the chicken pox and be just fine.

But still, the vaccine is probably better, according to a lot of doctors, for the following reasons, because in addition to protecting you against the chicken pox, the vaccine will also protect you against bacterial infection, against viral pneumonia, encephalitis and shingles, all of those associated with the chicken pox.

And while the chicken pox is rarely deadly, it can be a source of hospitalizations -- about 11,000 hospitalizations, 100 deaths a year, because of chicken pox. And those that are vaccinated, those numbers drop by about 75 percent. So, another good reason to get that vaccine.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired February 19, 2004 - 11:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Chicken pox used to be one of those dreaded childhood rights of passage, but a chicken pox vaccine has been available for about nine years now. A new study looks at how effective the vaccine has been.
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more details in our "Daily Dose" of health news.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it turns out a lot of things have changed since I got the chicken pox as a kid. There is a vaccine out there. In fact, it's been around since 1995, and it's pretty effective -- about 87 percent effective -- but it depends on when you get it and how long it's been since you got it.

Researchers in the "Journal of American Medical Association" decided to put the vaccine to the test to figure out just how effective it is over time. Here is what they found after following 339 children. At about one year, the vaccine was very effective -- about 97 percent effective. Two to eight years, the vaccine tends to dip in terms of its protection to about 84 percent, so some dip there.

Most of the researchers we talked to said they were a bit surprised by that, that they thought the vaccine would be good for life. But, in fact, that even if a child does get the chicken pox infection after the vaccine, that that infection is going to be much milder.

They also had some interesting findings in terms of when a child should get this chicken pox vaccine. The current recommendations are as follows: The American Academy of Pediatrics says the chicken pox vaccine is most effective between the ages of 12 and 18 months.

The study shed some interesting light on that though. Take a look at these numbers. If a child gets the vaccine before the age of 15 months, the effectiveness at one year is about 73 percent. The effectiveness is 99 percent, though, if it's at 15 months to 18 months or older.

So, if the child is waiting until about 15 months of age, that might be a lot better in terms of overall protection. We may see a change in the guidelines.

Finally, there has always been this contention: Should you get the vaccine or should you just let your child get the chicken pox? Certainly for the most part, most kids will just get through the chicken pox and be just fine.

But still, the vaccine is probably better, according to a lot of doctors, for the following reasons, because in addition to protecting you against the chicken pox, the vaccine will also protect you against bacterial infection, against viral pneumonia, encephalitis and shingles, all of those associated with the chicken pox.

And while the chicken pox is rarely deadly, it can be a source of hospitalizations -- about 11,000 hospitalizations, 100 deaths a year, because of chicken pox. And those that are vaccinated, those numbers drop by about 75 percent. So, another good reason to get that vaccine.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.