Tuesday, December 10, 2002

BY SUSAN K. LIVIO
Star-Ledger Staff

The state has taken the first step toward requiring that all young children be vaccinated for chickenpox, possibly as early as next fall.

The New Jersey Public Health Council approved a proposal yesterday that would mandate the chickenpox vaccine. The state wants to target toddlers at least 19 months old who are entering day care, and children entering kindergarten who were born after Jan. 1, 1998.

A total of 37 states and the District of Columbia have mandated the "varicella" or chickenpox vaccine for children since the Food and Drug Administration approved it in 1995, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A nationwide survey found that 76 percent of children 19 to 35 months old received the vaccine in 2001, the CDC said. New Jersey does not track the use of the vaccine because it does not yet mandate it, state officials said.

"There was a slow start-up, but now it's generally well accepted, with 94 percent of physicians routinely offering it," Chuck O'Donnell, chief of the state health department's Immunization Program, told the council.

Chickenpox is an infectious disease caused by a virus that results in a blister-like rash, itching, fatigue and fever. Before the vaccine was available, the virus caused approximately 11,000 hospitalizations and 100 deaths a year, according to the CDC.

Even with the wide availability of the vaccine, 48 people nationwide died from the illness in 1999, according to the most recent federal statistics available.

The rule, proposed by the state Department of Health and Senior Services and approved by the Public Health Council at its monthly meeting yesterday, will be published in the New Jersey Register, the bi-weekly magazine that advertises new state rules. At that point, the rule is subject to a 60-day public comment period and a public hearing. After that, the Health Department would give final approval.

The rule could be in place as soon as September 2003, O'Donnell said.

Some parents are wary of government-mandated vaccinations, fearing they may cause serious side effects. However, O'Donnell predicted most families and school nurses will support it.

"It's a one-dose vaccine, which is easy compared to the Hepatitis B vaccine," which requires three doses, O'Donnell said. This fall the state required children to be immunized for Hepatitis B.

Side effects from the vaccine include swelling and redness at the site of the injection, fever and in some cases a slight case of the chickenpox.

Board member Dr. Robert M. Pallay, noting the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians support the vaccine. He asked: "Is there any reason we should not want to do this?"

"No," O'Donnell replied.

Under the proposal, children who already have had the chickenpox would not have to be vaccinated.