Q: My son is 1 year 7 months old and is a normal healthy active child. With chicken pox in the air, is it necessary to give him the chicken pox vaccine (Injection Varilix). If he is injected with this varillix injection will he never get chickenpox in his life?

A:Chickenpox vaccine is considered as an optional vaccine for people, to be administered if they choose to have it. The vaccine is a good one and veryeffective. It can safely be administered to your 19 month old child. It is probably effective for life. There are 85% chances that your child will never get chickenpox after getting the vaccine and 15% chances that if the child does get chickenpox later in life, then the disease will be very mild with only a few spots on the body. Chickenpox is usually not a life threatening condition and the younger the age at which the child gets the disease, the milder it is in its manifestations. The vaccine however is expensive.