Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
34428550
label
Chicken Pox
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
34428550
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Chicken Pox
citationUrl
collections
Records of the First Lady's Office (Clinton Administration)
Jennifer Klein's Files
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
34428550
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
otherTitles
42-t-7422560-20140536S-008-017-2016
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
b86f1b89fafe935f
ocrText
06/27/95
18:58
202 690 7203
HHS OS/ES
002
4:30
DRAF
EXPEDITE
STATEMENT
David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D.
Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Today, CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
(ACIP) advised that all healthy children between 12-18 months of
age should be routinely vaccinated with varicella vaccine and
that older children who lack reliable histories of varicella
should receive the vaccine.
Varicella (chicken pox) is highly contagious and CDC
estimates that nearly 4 million cases of varicella occur
annually. The majority of cases occur in children less than 15
years of age. Chicken pox is generally mild; however, CDC
estimates that more than 9,000 hospitalizations a year are
related to chicken pox and, annually, up to 100 persons die from
chicken pox, most of them young children. Among children, a
common complication of varicella is secondary bacterial infection
of skin lesions; a child may have 300 lesions or more on their
body during an attack of varicella. Less common complications of
varicella are encephalitis and viral or bacterial pneumonia.
In the United States, annual cost of caring for children of
normal health who contract chicken pox was estimated as $918
million in 1993. A cost-benefit study suggests a savings of
approximately $5 for each dollar spent on routine childhood
immunization for varicella when direct (e.g., medical and
06/27/95
18:59
202 690 7203
HHS OS/ES
003
DRAFT
hospital) and indirect (e.g., loss of work by parent) costs are
considered.
EXPEDITE
The CDC at my direction will begin taking steps to secure
the varicella vaccine for all VFC eligible children and other
youngsters served by state and local health departments.