It's a more serious disease than you think, says Tina Crafoord, head of the unit for vaccination programs at the Public Health Agency.
For the youngest, chickenpox is often a mild disease, although with annoying and itchy blisters. But for adults, it can become more serious and for certain groups, such as cancer patients with impaired immune systems, the disease can lead to life-threatening conditions. If pregnant women become infected, there is a risk of fetal death.
With vaccination, we reduce the amount of chickenpox virus in society and thereby also protect those who are most vulnerable, says Tina Crafoord.
Two injections
The Public Health Agency proposes that vaccination against chickenpox should be given at the child health center at one and a half years of age, when children are already there to receive vaccination against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR). Dose number two can then be given in grade one or two, in conjunction with the second MMR injection.
Then it will be at the same time, but two different injections, of course.
The proposal has been submitted to the government, which will make a decision. How quickly regions and municipalities can then start giving vaccinations cannot be answered by the Public Health Agency.
Those who have had chickenpox risk later in life contracting shingles, which is caused by the same virus. A positive side effect of broadly offering vaccination against chickenpox may therefore be that fewer people contract shingles in the future.
The pandemic got in the way
But why hasn't vaccination against chickenpox been offered on a broad front before? The investigation at the Public Health Agency began several years ago, explains Tina Crafoord, but the pandemic got in the way.
For obvious reasons, our focus was very much on pandemic management, and therefore we didn't get around to this earlier.
