What would happen if we stopped varicella (chickenpox) vaccine?
Prior to the chickenpox vaccine in 1995, almost all people in the U.S. had experienced chickenpox by adulthood. Almost every child missed a week of school, the parent a week of work, and 50-100 deaths occurred each year. There are also about 300,000 cases of shingles that occur each year when inactivate chickenpox virus (meaning, people who had chickenpox in the past) are activated again. This usually happens in older adults when their immune system slows down. If we stop vaccinating for chickenpox, the disease would quickly return to its previous high rate of infection. From CDC, National Immunization Program, 2000.
