►March 3, 2004 - Elk River Clinic Announces Chickenpox Vaccine Recall - PRNewswire via http://interestalert.com - "The RiverWay Clinic in Elk River today announced that it is contacting approximately 1,200 patients who received immunizations with varicella (chickenpox) vaccine at the clinic between Dec. 1998 and Dec. 2003 to ensure that they are adequately protected from the chickenpox...An audit of vaccine freezers at the clinic in January found a temperature variance in one freezer containing varicella (chickenpox) vaccine that may have resulted in the loss of effectiveness of the vaccine stored inside."

►March 2004 - Chickenpox Outbreak in a Highly Vaccinated School Population - journal article (Pediatrics) - "Conclusions. A chickenpox outbreak occurred in a school in which 97% of students without a prior history of chickenpox were vaccinated. Students vaccinated >5 years before the outbreak were at risk for breakthrough disease. Booster vaccination may deserve additional consideration.^"

Comment:  Or maybe we should start reexamining the wisdom of vaccinating children for this what at least used to be benign disease.  For more on why this might be the case, go to Scandals: When is an oops not really an oops?  When you get to solve the problems you cause, and make money doing both!.

►March 1, 2004 - Booster May Be Needed For Failing Chicken Pox Shot - Researchers Study Lake Oswego Outbreak - www.koin.com - "In 2001, 18 children at Forest Hills Elementary School in Lake Oswego developed the illness -- despite previous chicken pox vaccinations...Researchers who studied the outbreak found that the big jump in cases came five years after vaccination. Now they believe that a booster shot may be needed after five years."

Comment:  Maybe it would be better to let children get the chickenpox.  For more on this, go to Scandals: When is an oops not really an oops?  When you get to solve the problems you cause, and make money doing both!, Scandals: Playing With Fire - It's Not EASY To Fool Mother Nature, and Scandals: Prescription For Disaster - Is Vaccine Policy A "House of Cards"?

►February 29, 2004 - Study: Vaccine benefit fades - Less effective after a year - The Cincinatti Enquirer - "A new study might spark debate among pediatricians and parents about the effectiveness of the chickenpox vaccine and when it should be given to children...Researchers at Yale Medical School say the effectiveness of the vaccine fades significantly in the first year after vaccination. And the vaccine also doesn't appear to be as effective in children younger than 15 months."

Comment:  Prior to the vaccine being developed, chickenpox was universally considered a benign disease.  If it has become more serious since that time, why might that be?

►February 27, 2004 - New study clarifies effectiveness of chicken pox vaccine - Capital News 9

►February 24, 2004 - Chickenpox Vaccine Found to Fade in a Year (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Although no vaccine is ever 100 percent effective, some authorities see the findings as highlighting a potentially serious problem. If chickenpox becomes less prevalent, fewer unvaccinated children will contract it. That vulnerability follows them into adulthood, critics say, and it increases their chances of suffering severe complications if the disease does eventually strike...Adults whose childhood immunity has worn off will also be in trouble, said Barbara Loe Fisher, co-chairwoman of the National Vaccine Information Center...One solution, experts say, is to combine the chickenpox vaccine with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, known as M.M.R., usually given around the same time. That would mean that children would receive a second, or booster, dose of varicella vaccine, because M.M.R. is administered twice."

Comment:  The problem re: vulnerability of adults is also relevant to other so-called "vaccine-preventable" diseases, including measles.  For more on this go to Scandals: Playing With Fire - It's Not EASY To Fool Mother Nature