Epidemiology of varicella in Iraq, 2012–2016

Although varicella is a vaccine-preventable disease, vaccination policy varies widely between countries and, sometimes, in the same country based on the epidemiology of varicella.1 2 The WHO’s advice is that varicella vaccination should be started in countries where varicella is a relatively important public health and socioeconomic problem; the vaccine is affordable; and high (85%–90%) and sustained vaccine coverage can be achieved.3 When developed countries introduced varicella vaccine in their immunisation programmes, the annual incidence of varicella was already less than 16/100 000 population.4 In addition, the vaccine strategy composed of a gradual increase in vaccine coverage rate from 80% over a 9-year period, resulted in a significant reduction in …