OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of universal early childhood vaccination against varicella on the reduction of its incidence in a state capital in southern Brazil. METHODS: Official epidemiologic surveillance data from the SINAN database for the 1997-2007 period were used to evaluate the impact of varicella vaccination targeting all children < 2 years of age in Florianópolis (the capital city of the state of Santa Catarina), Brazil, since 2002, thus comprising 5 years before and 6 years after the vaccination. Varicella incidence in Florianópolis was compared with the incidence in the rest of the state for four age groups (< 1, 1-4, 5-9, and 10-14 years). RESULTS: Among the 135,311 cases of varicella in the state of Santa Catarina during the 1997-2007 period, 70% were children under 10 years of age. The effectiveness of varicella vaccine ranged from 27 to 38% among the age groups but reached statistical significance only for children 1-4 years old. CONCLUSION: The vaccine was effective in reducing varicella incidence in Florianópolis for children 1-4 years old.
Varicella; vaccine; effectiveness
