Chickenpox-related deaths in the U.S. have decreased dramatically. [Graph depicts decline in number of deaths per year from more than 120 in 1994 to fewer than 20 in 2010 while vaccination rate increased from around 10% in 1996, the year that U.S. vaccination program began, to 90% in 2010.]
 Before U.S. vaccination began: • Chickenpox caused more than 100 deaths every year • Chickenpox caused more than 10,000 hospitalizations every year • More than 4 million people got chickenpox every year Since U.S. vaccination began (after 15 years of vaccination): • 90% decrease in deaths, meaning fewer than 20 people die from chickenpox every year • 84% fewer hospitalizations, meaning fewer than 1,700 people are hospitalized for chickenpox every year • 92% fewer cases means fewer than 350,000 people get chickenpox every year Two doses of vaccine are needed to protect against chickenpox. Find out more about chickenpox at http://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/
 CS247225-A version 2A NOV 2014

Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library collection