Whose vaccine helped prevent chickenpox after decades of common childhood infection?
Quick Answer
Michiaki Takahashi developed the first chickenpox vaccine, licensed in Japan in 1984 and later used widely worldwide. It turned varicella from an almost universal childhood illness into a preventable disease.
The Full Story
Michiaki Takahashi created the first varicella, or chickenpox, vaccine by weakening the virus in cell culture. It was licensed in Japan in 1984 and later introduced in many other countries. Chickenpox was once a routine childhood infection, but the vaccine greatly reduced illness, complications, and later-life shingles risk in vaccinated populations. Its success also helped show how live attenuated vaccines could be used safely against herpesviruses.
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