Varicella vaccine given subcutaneously (under the skin). It is recommended for all children under 13 and for everyone 13 or older who has never had chickenpox. In the United States two doses are recommended. In the first case a first dose is administered at 12 to 15 months and a second dose at age 4–6 years. For people older than 13 the two doses are administered 4 to 8 weeks apart. The varicella vaccine did not become widely available in the United States until 1995. In the UK, the vaccine is only recommended in people who are particularly vulnerable to chickenpox. The
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control The office of the Chief Scientist oversees the seven Disease Programmes, the Microbiology Coordination Section and the Scientific Advice Coordination Section. The Disease Programmes focus on specific disease groups: Two shared-resource units – Surveillance and Response Support, and Public Health Capacity and Communication – provide specialist expertise. The Information and Communication Technologies Unit provides infrastructure, application development and support. The Resource Management and Coordination Unit controls ECDC’s human and financial resources. ECDC publishes numerous scientific and technical reports covering various issues related to the prevention and control of communicable diseases. Comprehensive reports from key technical and scientific meetings are also