Suffering through chickenpox used to be a childhood rite of passage. Now, fortunately, children can avoid the itchy, and potentially dangerous, disease by simply getting a shot. Beginning this year, students in kindergarten, first, second and ninth grades must show proof that they have been vaccinated against the disease or that they are immune to it. The aim is to have all school-age students immunized by 2007. Students have until Dec. 1 to get the needed shots or risk not being able to attend school.

The group most likely to protest the shots is also the most at risk. Because toddlers were not routinely immunized against chickenpox until 1995, today’s ninth-graders are not protected. This age group is also at risk because the chances of the illness being more severe are greater among adolescents than among younger children.

For most, the illness results in an itchy outbreak and several days of missed school. However, some cases do lead to pneumonia and encephalitis, a dangerous swelling of the brain. Chickenpox can be extremely dangerous to those with compromised immune systems, such as those undergoing treatment for cancer, or people with skin diseases. The disease can be transmitted simply by being in the same room with an infected person. Worse, the disease is most contagious four days before the telltale red marks appear.

Maine does fairly well at immunizing its toddlers against chickenpox. In 2003, 81 percent of Maine children between the ages of 19 and 35 months were vaccinated. The national average was 85 percent. However, Maine is slightly behind in instituting school-age vaccination requirements. When the Legislatures passed the new rules last year, 35 states required similar immunizations.

In addition to protecting children’s health, the chickenpox vaccine saves a lot of money. A study in the current issue of Pediatrics magazine found that children vaccinated against the disease reduced health care costs. In 1993, two years before the U.S. government licensed the vaccine for routine use in early childhood, nearly 14,000 Americans were hospitalized each year for chickenpox-related complications at a cost of $161 million. In 2001, the hospitalizations were down to 3,729 with a cost of $66 million, according to the researchers at the University of Michigan.

The chickenpox vaccine, now required for many students, will save money and spare your child the consequences of a dangerous illness.