UK experts recommend chickenpox shot for kids for the first time, decades after other countries

LONDON (AP) — An expert scientific committee advising the British government recommended for the first time Tuesday that children should be immunized with the chickenpox vaccine — decades after the shots were made widely available in other countries, including the U.S., Canada and Australia. In Britain, those who want to be immunized against the disease have to pay about £150 (US $184). In a statement on Tuesday, Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said that children between 1 year and 18 months should be offered two doses of the vaccine, in a shot that also combines protection against measles, mumps and rubella. Chickenpox is a highly infectious disease that mostly affects children and can cause an itchy rash, blisters and fever.