Calls for chickenpox vaccine to be made available for all children in Ireland

A number of TDs have called on the state to make the chickenpox vaccine available to all children nationwide.

Thousands of Irish children catch the highly infectious disease, which is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), each year. The Varivax vaccine helps to protect against the virus. It is currently only available privately in Ireland. It has been rolled out publicly in a number of countries and both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael want to see the same happen here. Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Stephen Donnelly has argued that the disease can be costly for families due to lost time in work. "I do know as a parent of three children, when your kids get chickenpox, on the basis of both parents working, which is the reality for many families now, it does take the parent out of work for up to a week so there is an economic element to this too," he told the Irish Examiner. Sinn Féin health spokesperson Louise O’Reilly meanwhile argued that the fact that it's only available privately is leaving poorer families at risk of complications like meningitis, pneumonia and shingles. At least one per cent of children under 15 who catch the chickenpox develop a complication. The Varivax vaccine is part of the routine public immunisation programmes in countries including the US and Canada.