So, this is interesting. The chickenpox vaccine wasn’t introduced until 1995. In Minnesota schools, a whole bunch of my peers had been vaccinated, but I was immune from getting the real infection, in about 1997. Why? Well, I was in Washington state at the time, so their health system might not have been as advanced as Minnesota’s… I got it from my older siblings who got it from school, who purportedly would have been vaccinated by then. Purportedly, another one of my Minnesota peers who may have been in Washington state at the time (he had a “Boeing” shirt) also got the real infection rather than a vaccine.
But, the vaccination isn’t 100% effective either. One of my Minnesota peers who have been vaccinated got infected anyways, when in 6th grade in the year 2006.
Also, this is very interesting: humans are among the only mammals that are naturally susceptible to the varicella (chickenpox) virus, with only primates, chimpanzees, and gorillas observed to be susceptible to it.
Now, this is an interesting effect of vaccination: loss of immunity in adults in a vaccinated community increases due to being less exposed to children who catch chickenpox. So, this creates an interesting situation: should adults get boosters or not?
20180530/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenpox
So, this is interesting. The vaccine was commercially available in 1984, was rolled out in Japan and Korea in 1988, and rolled out in the U.S. in 1995. However, vaccination is not generally practiced in Europe. In the UK, health service workers are vaccinated, but not the general population.
Where was it invented?
20180530/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varicella_vaccine
Okay, we’re making progress. The person who invented it was Michiaki Takahashi, who came from Japan. However, they also studied in the United States close to the time of the vaccine invention.
20180530/DuckDuckGo where was Varicella vaccine invented
20180530/http://www.whodiscoveredit.com/who-discovered-the-cure-for-chicken-pox.html
20180530/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michiaki_Takahashi
Wow, Wikipedia could use some improvement, but I’m not going to be the one doing it.
Now, this is interesting. Once upon a time, “pox parties” were used to try to deliberately infect young children in hopes that they can build immunity before adulthood, where the infection is much more severe. Nowadays these are no longer as popular due to the advent of vaccinations, but it is still practiced by a small number of anti-vaccinationists. Some of them do illegal things like trying to send purportedly contaminated items through the mail.
20180530/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pox_party