The NHS will begin vaccinating all babies against chickenpox next year, the biggest expansion of the childhood

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immunisation scheme for a decade

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/chickenpox-vaccine-nhs-jab-39g58nk39

https://archive.ph/pLu1i



The NHS will begin vaccinating all babies against chickenpox next year, in the biggest expansion of the childhood immunisation programme for a decade. From January, the chickenpox — or varicella — vaccine will be combined with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into a new MMRV jab, replacing the MMR jab. This will be offered to more than half a million children each year in two doses, at 12 months and 18 months of age, acting as a “lifesaver” against several deadly diseases.

The chickenpox vaccine is 98 per cent effective and ministers said it would save millions of sick days from school and nursery, sparing parents from “scrambling for childcare or having to miss work”. However, the NHS faces a battle to increase uptake of childhood jabs, with data published on Thursday revealing that the number of children getting their MMR vaccine has collapsed to the lowest level for 15 years.

Nearly one in five children starting primary school next week are “at risk of serious diseases” as they are not fully up to date with their vaccinations. Just 83.7 per cent of five-year-olds have received both doses of MMR and this falls to 58 per cent in Hackney, London, which has the worst rate in the country. None of the key childhood vaccines in England reached the 95 per cent uptake target last year, according to annual figures.



The chickenpox jab is the first to be added to the routine NHS schedule since 2015. It has been used in Australia and the US for several years. The NHS had not followed suit because of a concern that a childhood vaccination programme might mean people who had not been exposed to the virus as a child could be more likely to develop chickenpox as adults, when cases can be more severe.

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[bullimiami]

1. Meanwhile, in dumbfuckistan....

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2. ..........