[Is vaccination against varicella efficacious and how long does the protection last?].

Despite the availability of varicella vaccines, few countries have introduced a  universal varicella vaccination to their national immunisation programmes. Major concerns are vaccine efficacy against varicella and herpes zoster as well as duration of post-vaccination protection. This review study presents up-to-date classification of varicella-zoster viral clades, sensitive laboratory tests used for assessment of humoral response against the vaccine-type virus OKA antigens in vaccinees, and benefits of universal varicella vaccination in the USA (since 1995) and in Germany (since 2004). Current views on potential rise in zoster incidence after implementation of routine varicella immunisation have been also analyzed.