Merck's Chickenpox Vaccine Should Be Used More, Researcher Says
Bloomberg News
September 25, 1998, 5:39 p.m. ET
Merck's Chickenpox Vaccine Should Be Used More, Researcher Says
San Diego, California, Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) - Merck & Co.'s
chickenpox vaccine should be given almost universally to children
or those who are not immunized will be more at risk for serious
cases of the disease later in life, a researcher said.
A study of chickenpox infections among more than 3,000
children in daycare centers indicates increased use of the
vaccine lowers the risk of disease for all children. As more are
vaccinated, children then have fewer peers from whom they can
catch the disease.
''If you start using it, you have to give it to everybody,''
said Dennis Clements of Duke Children's Hospital, suggesting the
vaccine be made a required for admission to school.
Clements presented research on the vaccine at the
the 38th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and
Chemotherapy, held in San Diego. The study was funded by Merck,
the world's largest drugmaker. It looked at children in about 11
daycare centers in North Carolina.
In the study, no cases of chickenpox were reported for
children up to 11 months of age in 1997, Clements said. In 1995,
about 6 percent of children in this age group had had chickenpox,
he said.
Merck's Varivax, the chickenpox vaccine, was introduced in
1995. Merck is based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.
--Kerry Dooley in San Diego through the Washington newsroom (202) |
