Immunization for Chicken Pox Seen as Saving Money

Vaccinating young children against chicken pox would save more than $5 for every $1 in costs, says a UC San Francisco report that anticipates federal approval of a vaccine soon.

The findings are timely as the nation grapples with health reform and looks for ways to stretch limited dollars to cover spiraling health care costs, researchers said. A new vaccine under final review by the Food and Drug Administration could be approved by spring.

Routine immunization of all healthy preschoolers would cost $88 million a year and would save $472 million annually, mainly in lost work time of parents who stay home to care for sick children, the researchers estimated.

“From society’s perspective, this vaccine . . . could be a good investment,” said Dr. Stephen L. Cochi, an epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which partly funded the study.

The report, led by Dr. Tracy A. Lieu of UCSF, is published in today’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Chicken pox annually afflicts 3.7 million people in the United States, mostly children, who usually suffer little more than an itchy rash. But about 9,000 Americans with severe cases or complications are hospitalized each year. About 90 die.

The disease is caused by the highly contagious varicella virus and is one of the last major childhood ailments for which no U.S. vaccine is available.