Boy vaccinated with pox spread outbreak to other vaccinee's

[Guest guest]

Chicken Pox Outbreak Bested Vaccine

But health officials defend shot's effectiveness

By Adam Marcus

HealthScoutNews Reporter

Works good huh!

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 11 (HealthScoutNews) -- They may be lifesavers, but

vaccines are no match for the certainty of death and taxes.

Health officials say a New Hampshire boy immunized against chicken

pox passed the infection on to 17 of his day-care classmates who also

had received the shot.

No one died or required hospitalization in the 2000-2001 outbreak,

which sickened a total of 25 children, though eight had moderate to

severe symptoms.

Studies have pegged the chicken pox vaccine's efficacy rate at

between 71 percent and 100 percent, and it performs even better at

preventing serious bouts of the disease.

Yet in the day-care outbreak, it worked only 44 percent of the time.

Those children vaccinated three or more years before the exposure

were 2.6 times more likely than those who received the shot more

recently to become infected with chicken pox.

This suggests the inoculation's protection might fade with time.