Varicella vaccine
Varicella vaccine, also known as chickenpox vaccine, is a vaccine that protects against chickenpox. One dose of vaccine prevents 95% of moderate disease and 100% of severe disease. Two doses of vaccine are more effective than one. If given to those who are not immune within five days of exposure to chickenpox it prevents most cases of disease. Vaccinating a large portion of the population also protects those who are not vaccinated. It is given by injection just under the skin.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends routine vaccination only if a country can keep more than 80% of people vaccinated. If only 20% to 80% of people are vaccinated it is possible that more people will get the disease at an older age and outcomes overall may worsen. Either one or two doses of the vaccine is recommended. In the United States two doses are recommended starting at twelve to fifteen months of age. As of 2012 most European countries either recommend it for all children or just those at high risk, but not all countries provide the vaccine due to its cost.
Minor side effects may include pain at the site of injection, fever, and rash. Severe side effects are rare and occur mostly in those with poor immune function. Its use in people with HIV/AIDS should be done with care. It is not recommended during pregnancy; however, the few times it has been given during pregnancy no problems resulted. The vaccine is available either by itself or along with the MMR vaccine, in a version known as the MMRV vaccine. It is made from weakened virus.
The chickenpox vaccine first became commercially available in 1984. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system. In the United States it costs between 100 and 200 USD.
Vanderbilt University
In the 1930s, Ernest William Goodpasture and his colleagues in the School of Medicine invented methods for cultivating viruses and rickettsiae in fertilized chicken eggs. This work made possible the production of vaccines against chicken pox, smallpox, yellow fever, typhus, Rocky mountain spotted fever and other diseases caused by agents that only propagate in living cells. Alfred Blalock, Professor of Surgery, and his assistant Vivian Thomas identified a decrease in blood volume and fluid loss outside the vascular bed as a key factor in traumatic shock and pioneered the use of replacement fluids for its treatment. This treatment saved countless lives in World War II, during which Vanderbilt was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.