Can I still get chickenpox despite a vaccination?
With some vaccinated persons it is possible that the vaccine does not respond one hundred percent, so that there is still a residual risk of infection. In about 70 to 90% of the cases a vaccination prevents a disease. If the disease breaks out despite vaccination, the course of the disease is usually much milder, so that there are usually no complications.
What are the costs of the vaccination?
A basic immunization against chickenpox, which requires two vaccinations, costs about 115 €. However, this also depends on the vaccination preparation used. Since the chickenpox vaccination is recommended as the standard vaccination by the Standing Commission on Vaccination, the double vaccination is covered by the health insurance companies. No co-payments by the patient are to be expected.
What is the connection with shingles?
If you are infected with the chickenpox virus (varicella zoster virus) for the first time, it triggers the disease of chickenpox. The disease usually heals on its own after a few days. Afterwards, however, the virus remains in the body, withdrawing into nerve cell bodies near the spine.In old age or due to a weakened immune system, the virus can reactivate itself, which then migrates along nerve tracts towards the skin and leads to a very painful, belt-shaped skin rash.
This manifestation is called shingles (herpes zoster), which is more often associated with serious complications than chickenpox. In vaccinated children, on the other hand, shingles occurs much less frequently because they have never been fully exposed to the virus during an infection, so that no virus has been able to implant itself in their nerve cells. However, it can be assumed that the number of shingles cases is currently only rising temporarily. If the children who are now usually vaccinated against chickenpox as a standard procedure reach an older age, shingles should occur much less frequently because most of them do not carry the virus.
