Newborn's aren't given the vaccine. Preferably a child is 15-18 mo old, but it can be given any time after 12 mo. The newest thought (I think) is to give it at 12 mo and repeat at 4 years, same as MMR. Chicken pox acquired naturally before one year of age doesn't necessarily confer immunity. Now all that said, a dr may give a new baby VZIG (immune globulin) in the hopes that it will lessen the severity of the disease (if chicken pox is rampant in the newborn's home or mom gets varicella 5 days before or 2 days after delivery). Has to be shortly after exposure(within 96 hours). Varicella-Zoster Immune Globulin doesn't confer immunity, just heads off or lessens disease. About 30-35 children die in US each year from complications of chicken pox, mostly older kids. Many states are now requiring disease documentation or vaccination for school entry. Most of this info is from the Red Book. Try and make friends with a ped who will give you his old copy, when the new issue comes out :-) Remember this is OT and don't get into a pro/con immunization argument on Lactnet :-) Sincerely, Pat in SNJ *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html