Chickenpox Vaccination Service

Chickenpox can affect all ages, but it’s most commonly caught in childhood. Some people, such as pregnant women and those with a weakened immune system, have a higher risk of complications if they catch chickenpox.

The Boots Chickenpox Vaccination Service is a non-NHS service for adults and children aged between one and 65 years**. A full course consists of two vaccinations given a minimum of six weeks apart. If you, or your child, have had a first dose of a chickenpox vaccine from somewhere other than Boots, you can still have your second dose at Boots, providing you meet the eligibility criteria.

This service isn’t suitable for anyone who:

• is pregnant or breastfeeding
• has a weakened immune system
• has received the MMR vaccine in the previous 4 weeks

This isn’t a complete list and suitability will be checked before the vaccination is given.

The healthcare professional will usually vaccinate children under the age of two in the thigh and anyone over the age of two in the upper arm. It would therefore be helpful for you or your child to wear loose fitting clothing and short sleeves that can be rolled up.

The healthcare professional will talk to you about possible side effects before the vaccination. See our FAQs for more information.

The vaccine contains a small amount of the live virus that causes chickenpox and so, on rare occasions, those who’ve received the chickenpox vaccine can pass the infection on to others. It’s therefore important to avoid contact with anyone in an ‘at risk’ group for six weeks after each dose of vaccination. Those most at risk include pregnant women who haven’t had chickenpox, newborn babies of mothers who haven’t had chickenpox, or anyone with a weakened immune system.

This is particularly important if you have a rash within six weeks of the first or second dose. If this happens, contact must be avoided until the rash has completely disappeared, as people at risk can develop serious complications if they catch chickenpox.

Vaccination against chickenpox isn’t routinely available on the NHS. However, an NHS vaccination is recommended if you’re in regular or close contact with someone who may be at risk if you catch chickenpox and spread the virus to them. For example, non-immune healthcare workers and contacts of people with a weakened immune system can be offered a chickenpox vaccination on the NHS.

Vaccination will not help someone who already has an active chickenpox infection but there are things you can do to help soothe the symptoms. See our information page for more details.

To enable us to give you the best and most appropriate care and advice, we collect your personal data such as name, address and date of birth, we also collect your more sensitive personal data regarding your health for the purposes of ensuring the service we provide is appropriate for you.

We may also process your personal data for carefully considered and specific purposes which are in our interest and enable us to enhance the services we provide, but which we believe also benefit our customers. Your personal data will be stored for as long as necessary unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

We may share your personal information across Boots services such as Boots Pharmacy and with other companies that provide services on our behalf but we assure you that Boots will never sell your personal data. We are committed to safeguarding your privacy and keeping your personal data safe and secure is our top priority.

For more information about who we may share your data with, how Boots process your data and how to amend or remove your data please see our privacy policy or contact Boots.CustomerCare_Team@boots.co.uk.