Study casts doubt on chickenpox shot

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Study casts doubt on chickenpox shot

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Published December 12, 2002

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- A chickenpox outbreak at a day-care center two years ago found vaccinations surprisingly ineffective and may suggest that children should get two shots instead of one, researchers say.

Dr. Karin Galil, lead author of the study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, and other experts said it is much too early to propose such a change. Seven earlier studies found the vaccine protected at least 71 percent of the children.

The latest study tracked a case in which a boy vaccinated three years earlier came down with the virus on Dec. 1, 2000. By Jan. 11, 2001, it had spread to 24 other children--17 of whom had been vaccinated.

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