Dear Dr. Shaw,

    I thank you for your post re: the varicella vaccine.  For the most part,
I tend to agree with you regarding vaccines and the good they have done.
Personally, my son is vaccinated...except for the varicella vaccine, which I
am waiting for my questions to be answered and then I will act accordingly.
    I want to limit this, since I know that the vaccination issue is only in
some cases related to breastfeeding issues, but having a fuller knowledge of
vaccines helps us to understand the infant more readily, and questions about
them do come up in the daily life of a lactation consultant.
    The only problem that I had with what you stated was that you didn't
provide references.  We are professionals exploring an issue and that would
be very helpful to us.  Unfortunately, we are too used to having the problem
of dealing with pediatricians who give "factual" information to parents
which might or might not be merely opinion (I'm not saying this is the case
here, which is why we would appreciate the rerferences).  It would help us
considerably on this issue if you would provide where you got the
information on:

    1. that the varicella vaccine protects against shingles later in life.
What leads us to that conclusion?  Even if the vaccine has been out for 20
years, shingles most commonly shows up in old age.  I know that the answer
to this question is highly important to me personally, and if there is a
strong enough argument for it, I would rush my son to the doctor for to get
the shot ASAP.

    2.  That varicella is now the most common vaccine-preventable cause of
death in the United States

    Thank you very much in advance

Lora Horn, LC in training
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To: Recipients of LACTNET digests <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sunday, September 27, 1998 8:50 AM
Subject: LACTNET Digest - 26 Sep 1998 to 27 Sep 1998 - Special issue