Varicella vaccination in Japan, South Korea, and Europe

The most extensive use of varicella vaccine has been in the United States and Canada, where it is universally recommended. However, a number of other countries now have recommendations for use of the vaccine, which has been expanding in Europe and Latin America. In this article, we review information concerning varicella vaccination in Japan, where the vaccine was first developed, and in South Korea and parts of Europe. Despite the worldwide availability of an efficient vaccine, varicella vaccination policy is highly variable from country to country. The recent development of a tetravalent vaccine against measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella could modify this variability in the future. It is evident that efforts to control varicella will spread gradually to all continents.