This information was adapted from an article by the National Immunization Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, the viruses and bacteria that cause vaccine preventable disease and death still exist and can be passed on to people who are not protected by vaccines.
Sick children can also cause parents to lose time from work.
Prior to the licensing of chickenpox vaccine in 1995, almost all persons in the U.S. had suffered from chickenpox by adulthood. Chickenpox is usually mild, but may be severe in some infants, adolescents, and adults. In addition, only persons who have had chickenpox in the past can get shingles, a painful inflammation of the nerves. There are about 300,000 cases of shingles that occur each year when inactivated chickenpox virus is activated in people who have had chickenpox in the past. If we were to stop vaccinating for chickenpox in the U.S., this disease would quickly return to its previous high rate of infection.