Vaccine "Varilrix": instructions for use, effectiveness, side effects, reviews

Currently, there are a huge number of vaccines that can prevent human infection with various diseases. Some of them will have their effect throughout life, but there are some that will have to be done again. Among children's infections, chickenpox is common. And if earlier almost every child in childhood was sick with this disease (and it was considered almost inevitable), now there was an inoculation from chickenpox "Varilrix".

We will try to figure out who is shown such a vaccination, how it works and whether there are any contraindications.

Structure of the preparation

A 0.5 ml vaccine is a single dose, containing in its composition:

• 3.3 lg PFUR of a live attenuated Varicella zoster virus, which is distinguished by its specific activity.
• As auxiliary substances: sorbitol, human serum albumin, lactose, amino acids, neomycin sulfate and mannitol.

"Varilrix" the manufacturer produces in the form of lyophilizate, which is used to prepare a solution for administration. It is a yellowish powder or amorphous mass.

The vaccine is packed in glass bottles, to which dilution water and a syringe are attached. The package contains one dose.

Pharmacological action of the vaccine

The vaccine "Varilrix" after administration into the body can cause a weakened form of chickenpox, which occurs almost without symptoms. After immunization for three days after contact with the patient, the drug is able to protect from infection.

Numerous studies have been carried out which proved the excellent effectiveness of chickenpox vaccine of any severity. If the vaccine was done at the age of 10 months and up to three years, then its effectiveness was 100% within 2.5 years.

For testing, people who had a risk of infection, that is, they did not contract this disease earlier, were selected. So, after vaccination, they were almost completely protected from infection, and if this happened, the patient tolerated chickenpox easily, without fever and with minimal rashes.

This only confirms that the "Varilrix" vaccine has met the expectations of physicians and can be used not only for vaccination of children, but also for adults.

For whom is vaccination vital?

Children often tolerate chickenpox fairly easily, unlike adults.

Given that over the years there are many chronic diseases, as well as serious health problems that can be significantly aggravated by the varicella-zoster virus, that is, the category of patients who simply need to be vaccinated is:

1. Patients suffering from acute leukemia.
2. Vaccination "Varilrix" is necessary for those who take immunosuppressants and corticosteroids.
3. Those who have an organ transplant operation.
4. In the presence of chronic diseases of the cardiovascular and pulmonary system.
5. The presence of neuromuscular disorders.
6. "Varilrix", the instruction to which contains all the necessary information, is recommended for vaccination of the adult population after contact with a sick person if the disease has not been tolerated before.

Patients who are at risk should periodically take an assay for the detection of antibodies to the varicella-zoster virus so that a vaccination decision can be made in a timely manner.

Studies confirm that people with immunodeficiency can develop a disease after close contact with the patient and after vaccination, but it will be much easier to flow and rashes will be less pronounced.

Indications for use of the vaccine

Any vaccine is strictly specific and has its own indications for use. If we consider "Varilrix", the instructions for use contain information about the purposes of using the drug:

• The vaccine is made for preventive purposes, beginning with the year-old age in children. In the first place, immunization is carried out for people at risk, who were not vaccinated and did not suffer from this disease.
• As an emergency prophylaxis after close contact with a sick chicken pox.

This vaccination is not yet included in the list of mandatory, so parents have the right to choose themselves, it is worth them to vaccinate their child and themselves or hope that their virus does not affect it.

Who does not see the vaccination?

As there is a risk group, which must necessarily be vaccinated, so has "Varilrix" contraindications for use, among them I want to highlight the following:

• If there is congenital or acquired immunodeficiency.
• In the presence of acute infectious diseases, it is better to refrain from vaccination.
• With exacerbation of chronic diseases.
• During pregnancy and lactation.
• With intestinal poisoning and the presence of temperature against the background of ARVI.
• If there is an allergic reaction to the components of the drug.
• You should not do with a hypersensitivity vaccine "Varilrix". Patients' reviews suggest that serious side effects may occur.

If you decide to get vaccinated, you should discuss this with your doctor in advance.

"Varilrix": side effects

Any vaccine, as well as a drug, can have undesirable manifestations. Side effects of "Varilrix" can be different, this depends to some extent on the age of the grafting and general condition of the body.

If to speak about undesirable displays at children from 9 months and till 12 years, they more often happen the following:

1. Drowsiness.
2. Development of infection of the respiratory system, there is a cough and runny nose.
3. General weakness.
4. Slight increase in body temperature.
5. Small rashes on the skin, which in a more vivid form are characteristic of chickenpox.
6. At the site of administration of the vaccine, tenderness and small swelling.
7. Very rarely there was hives.

If the vaccine was administered in adolescence or an adult, the following manifestations were observed:

1. Slight soreness at the injection site.
2. Puffiness.
3. Hyperemia.
4. Fever with a fever of 39 degrees.
5. Some complain of a headache.
6. From the gastrointestinal tract may be nausea, vomiting and pain in the epigastric region.
7. Lymphadenopathy.
8. Cramps may be disturbing.
9. Pain in the muscles.

In persons at risk, vaccination did not cause side effects that were very different from those observed in the rest of the population. Most often it was soreness and swelling at the injection site, which took place in a couple of days. Some noted an increase in body temperature. Most often, undesirable manifestations were diagnosed in patients with leukemia. Apparently, the joint use of the vaccine and immunosuppressive therapy produced such an effect.

Eruptions on the skin, characteristic of chickenpox, could also appear, but in very small quantities and the overall condition of patients did not affect.

When the vaccination was repeated, there was no aggravation of side effects. Suffice well tolerated "Varilrix", reviews of patients even with weakened immunity indicate that with the appearance of small rashes, fever, as a rule, does not develop, and if there is a rise in temperature, then for a short time.

Method of vaccine application

If you carefully examine the information about the vaccine "Varilrix", the instruction for use indicates that you need to use the drug subcutaneously.

Before this, the contents of the vial with lyophilizate should be diluted with a solvent that is attached to the package and shaken well until completely dissolved. Only after this, the composition can be typed into a syringe.

The prepared vaccination solution should have a slightly yellowish or pinkish color without various impurities and inclusions. Before you enter the drug, you need to inspect the bottle for foreign particles, when they are found, do not get vaccinated.

If everything is in order with the packaging and the vaccine, then you can proceed to the procedure of introduction. It is necessary to treat the injection site with an antiseptic solution and wait until it evaporates from the skin, otherwise there is a danger of inactivation of the virus, and there will be no effect from such vaccination.

Also it must be remembered that the drug should be administered immediately after breeding.

Overdose of the drug

Despite the fact that the vaccine in one bottle contains a single dose, but there have been cases and overdoses of the drug quite by accident. The human factor can not be discounted. In this situation, side effects are much more serious:

• The appearance of severe seizures.
• Man fell into a lethargic sleep.

Agree that this is no longer comparable to a headache or runny nose after vaccination.

Vaccination schedule

The "Varilrix" instruction contains detailed information on the timing and doses to be used for vaccination. If we are talking about babies from one year to 13 years, then for vaccination it is sufficient to use one dose in the amount of 0.5 ml once.

If the child is older than 13 years, and also had contact with the patient or is at risk, the drug is administered in a dose of 0.5 ml two times with an interval between administration of 6 to 10 weeks. "Varilrix" adult patients are also injected twice at intervals of several weeks.

It is worth mentioning separately about vaccination of patients from the risk group. This includes patients with acute leukemia, with severe chronic diseases and patients undergoing radiation therapy and treatment with immunosuppressants. Vaccination of such patients is carried out during the period of complete hematologic remission of the underlying disease. Before the vaccination, it is also necessary to make a blood test, which should show a lymphocyte count of at least 1200 / μL. The person should completely have no symptoms, indicating a weak cellular immunity.

When carrying out the vaccination in the acute period (with urgent need), chemotherapy should be interrupted a week before the vaccination and for a period of about 7 days after. During the radiation therapy, the vaccination is contraindicated.

The group of patients to be transplanted internally, the vaccination should be carried out a few weeks before the start of immunosuppressant therapy.

There are cases of urgent need for the introduction of a vaccine, this happens after contact with a sick chicken pox. In this situation, the vaccine "Varilrix", the instruction for use on this accentuates, should be introduced in the first 96 hours after contact, and even better within 72.

Interaction of the drug with other drugs

Before the vaccination, the doctor must find out, not only whether there are any contraindications to the patient, but also to ask what medications the patient is taking and whether the procedures are being performed.

If the patient was administered immunoglobulins, vaccination with "Varilix" can be carried out after three months, not earlier. The same applies to blood transfusion.

When making a decision to apply "Varilrix" instructions for use is mandatory for close examination. It describes the various nuances of using the drug, and among those that indicate that after the vaccination should not be used to treat salicylates within a half months. This refinement was added after several cases of development of Reye's syndrome were revealed against the background of vaccination against varicella.

If you look at the calendar of preventive vaccinations in the Russian Federation, you can come to the conclusion that the vaccine "Varilrix" can be used simultaneously with inactivated vaccines. The exception is an anti-rabies vaccination.

Very often vaccine "Varilrix" is introduced together with measles, rubella and mumps inoculations, parents' feedback confirms that combined vaccination does not reduce the body's immune response and does not lead to an increase in the reactogenicity of vaccines. The same can be said about the introduction of the vaccine together with vaccinations against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.

A vaccine against measles, rubella and mumps can even be administered simultaneously with "Varilix", only in different places. But it is also necessary to take into account the fact that if the doctor did not prescribe these vaccines at the same time, it is better if the interval between them is about a month to reach the maximum level of antibodies.

If other vaccinations are shown, the time between administration should be at least 30 days.

When the vaccination is carried out simultaneously by several drugs, it is necessary to take into account contraindications to each of them. Probably, it is not necessary to remind, that all vaccines are entered by different syringes and in different places. You can not do several inoculations at the same time in the same place.

Patients at risk are not advised to administer "Varilrix" concomitantly with other vaccinations.

Important instructions when using the drug "Varilrix"

Any doctor knows that in the treatment room should be drugs in case of anaphylactic reaction of the body to the drug. This also applies to the vaccination room.

Each patient must be under doctor's supervision after vaccination after half an hour, this applies not only to the kids, but also to the adults. Though basically has positive "Варилрикс" responses, at children including.

If the vaccination is a woman who plans to have a baby in the near future, it is advisable to protect herself from pregnancy after three months.

In patients who have acquired or primary immunodeficiency, before vaccination it is necessary to check the number of lymphocytes in the blood.

If you enter "Varilrix" (vaccine), the instruction warns that this drug can not be administered intramuscularly or intravenously, but only subcutaneously.

It is rare, but there were cases when the vaccine virus was transmitted to healthy people. In this regard, those who have only been vaccinated, it is necessary to avoid contact with pregnant women, especially those who are on a short term, as well as with persons at risk.

If after the vaccination on the skin there were eruptions, characteristic of chicken pox, then it is necessary to exclude any contact with women in the position and with those who have immunodeficiency.

After the introduction of "Varilrix" (vaccine), the instruction states that there is no danger of diminishing attention and ability to concentrate, therefore those who drive the car should not be afraid.

Vaccine storage rules

To ensure that as many as possible side effects from vaccination, it should be stored correctly. If we talk about the vaccine "Varilrix", then the shelf life is 1 year, provided that it is at a temperature of +2 to +8 degrees.

In order to check the expiration date, the date of production must be indicated on the package, as well as the time of its completion. The quality of the vaccine is not affected by frost. The composition for dissolving the lyophilizate can be stored at room temperature or in a refrigerator.

If the vaccine is to be transported during the hot season, then for these purposes it is necessary to use refrigerators.

Vaccine Reviews

This drug was used relatively recently, unlike other vaccinations, so some parents and adults do not rush to the treatment room to prevent infection. Vaccination "Varilrix" reviews received mostly positive, despite a short period of use.

Parents note that babies tolerate vaccination quite well. There are cases of increased body temperature, but in children it is a normal reaction to almost all vaccinations. It largely depends not on the specifics of the drug, but on the characteristics of the body.

Many mummies note that for a few days the kids have a swelling in the injection site and a little soreness, but it all goes away quickly.

There are reviews in which parents complain about the drug, because after a vaccination a couple of years later, there was still infection with the varicella-zoster virus. Doctors say that the vaccinated patient will be much easier to bear the disease, but some moms note that this is not so.

Almost all parents are sure that if the vaccine is done correctly taking into account the features and contraindications, complications, as a rule, do not occur. Side effects are very rare.

Everyone knows that children's infectious diseases, to which chickenpox is also referred, are better to die in childhood, since adults are much more difficult to tolerate such infections. Therefore, in recent years, "Varilrix" reviews from adults are also good. Almost all who have had the vaccination say that the body perceives normally, there are almost no side effects. In rare cases, there were headaches, the appearance of a cold or a cough, but this is still better than sitting at home in a hospital with a temperature of 40 degrees and sprinkled with red pimples.

Take care of your health and the health of your kids.