The vaccine will be offered in two doses, the first at 18 months of age via child health centres and the second when the child is 7-8 years old via the school health service.
All children should receive this protection. It feels urgent, because it is a fairly prolonged, painful disease. And for parents it means a lot of trouble, says Minister for Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed (KD).
Chickenpox also carries a risk of infection in the blisters that form on the skin, which may require antibiotic treatment.
If we can avoid that, then we can also reduce antibiotic resistance. So this is positive in many ways, says Jakob Forssmed.
Catch-up vaccination is offered
Children who are older than 18 months when the vaccination programme begins are not covered by the programme. To prevent them from becoming infected at an older age, the government is funding a temporary effort to offer vaccination to children aged 5-17 who are not yet immune to the disease.
The cost to the state for free chickenpox vaccination for children will be SEK 43 million per year from 2027. For catch-up vaccination, it is SEK 49 million in 2027 and SEK 51 million annually in 2028-2032.
Want to eradicate the disease
Forssmed emphasizes that it is a priority issue, not least to eradicate chickenpox.
We have signed an agreement with the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKR) that runs over three years. After that, we have probably come a long way in terms of eradicating the disease. But the plan is that the catch-up vaccination will be offered for a number of years after that. Vaccines within the vaccination programme will be offered every year permanently, he says.
The government made the decision on the necessary amendment to the Infection Control Ordinance on Thursday.
Chickenpox is a common, highly contagious disease that can sometimes cause serious illness. It is most common in preschool children.
The disease begins with fever and body aches that last for a few days. This is followed by itchy blisters on the body - usually first on the trunk, later on the face, scalp and oral cavity.
The virus that causes chickenpox remains in the body's nerve cells after the disease, regardless of whether the person had symptoms, and can be reactivated later in life and cause shingles, among other things.
Source: Public Health Agency of Sweden
