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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/12/national/12BRFS6.html?tntemail1

December 12, 2002

 

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STUDY OF CHICKEN POX VACCINE
A chicken pox outbreak two years ago found vaccinations surprisingly ineffective and may suggest that children should get two shots instead of one, some researchers say. Seven earlier studies found the vaccine protected at least 71 percent of the children who got shots from developing chicken pox. But the latest study, the results of which were published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, tracked the worst performance of the vaccine since its introduction in 1995. At a day care center near Concord, N.H., a boy who had been vaccinated three years earlier came down with the illness. Within six weeks, the virus spread to 24 other children, including 17 who had also been vaccinated. Dr. Karin Galil, the study's lead author, said it was still too early to suggest that more than one vaccination was needed. "When there are 20 or 30 estimates, we'll have a better measure of how well it's truly working," she said.   
(AP)


 

 

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