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Why giving children the chicken pox jab could give YOU shingles

(Daily Mail 02/03/2009)

Children might soon be vaccinated against chicken pox, according to recent reports. But some experts question the need for a vaccine against an infection that's so mild - especially when it could put thousands of elderly people at greater risk of shingles. Chicken pox causes up to 50 deaths a year, 40 of them children, and it seems the Government's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is considering adding a vaccine against it to the MMR jab. But there is widespread concern about this. First because a similar MMR super jab now used in America has been found to double the risk of fits in some children.

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Chickenpox jab for all children and pregnant women

(Daily Mail 03/01/2009)

Children and pregnant women could be routinely vaccinated against chickenpox. Options being considered by government advisers include combining the jab with the MMR triple vaccine, creating a four-in-one shot. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is also considering vaccinating adults against shingles, which is caused by the same virus.

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