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No. Chicken pox vaccine is not necessary for all to take, and should not be made mandatory.

Chicken pox in childhood is often a mild disease, and the exposure to the natural disease gives you life long immunity. Where as the immunity which is provided through the vaccine is only temporary and you will have to repeat the vaccine again after 4-6 years.

There are studies to show that children who take chicken pox vaccine often are exposed to chicken pox that is more serious in their adulthood. And also, they are prone to get Herpes Zoster or shingles, which is caused by a virus belonging to the same varicella family ( varicella is the virus causing chicken pox).Also, the vaccine's efficacy also decreases from year to year, and there have been incidences of chicken pox in those who took the vaccine.

Moreover, there had been adverse effects following the vaccination- which ranged from shock (or circulatory collapse), encephalitis (brain covering inflammation), and thrombocytopenia (decrease in thrombocytes or platelets which helps in blood coagulation or clotting). There is also chance for secondary transmission of vaccine virus infection to close contacts, transverse myelitis and Guillain Barre Syndrome (brain disorders). These adverse effects had been to a very high percentage in the population, almost 67.5 percent in 100, 000 population. There have been documented cases of transmission of vaccine virus from a vaccinated child to household contacts, including a pregnant woman.

There was another concern that giving chicken pox vaccination massively among the children may cause an epidemic outbreak of shingles in future.

In addition, this vaccine cannot be taken in pregnancy, and conceiving to a period of three months should be avoided since taking this vaccination can cause fetal malformations.

Learn more about this author, Bindu Thomas Thycad.
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