Epidemiology of varicella in Iraq, 2012–2016

Although varicella is a vaccine-preventable disease, vaccinationpolicy 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 vaccinationshould be started in countries where varicella is a relatively important public health and socioeconomic problem; the vaccineis affordable; and high (85%–90%) and sustained vaccinecoverage can be achieved.3 When developed countries introduced varicella vaccinein their immunisation programmes, the annual incidence of varicella was already less than 16/100 000 population.4 In addition, the vaccinestrategy composed of a gradual increase in vaccinecoverage rate from 80% over a 9-year period, resulted in a significant reduction in …