Varilrix Special Precautions

Syncope (fainting) can occur following, or even before, any vaccination as a psychogenic response to the needle injection. It is important that procedures are in place to avoid injury from faints.
Alcohol and other disinfecting agents must be allowed to evaporate from the skin before injection of the vaccine since they can inactivate the attenuated viruses in the vaccine.
Limited protection against varicella may be obtained by vaccination up to 72 hours after exposure to natural disease.
As with any vaccine, a protective immune response may not be elicited in all vaccinees.
As for other varicella vaccines, cases of varicella disease have been shown to occur in persons who have previously received Varilrix. These breakthrough cases are usually mild, with a fewer number of lesions and less fever as compared to cases in unvaccinated individuals.
Transmission of the Oka vaccine virus has been shown to occur at a very low rate in seronegative contacts of vaccinees with rash. Transmission of the Oka vaccine from a vaccinee who does not develop a rash to seronegative contacts cannot be excluded.
As with all injectable vaccines, appropriate medical treatment should always be readily available in case of rare anaphylactic reactions following the administration of the vaccine. For this reason, the vaccinee should remain under medical supervision for 30 minutes after immunisation.
There is limited data on the use of Varilrix in immunocompromised subjects, therefore vaccination should be considered with caution and only when, in the opinion of the physician, the benefits outweigh the risks.
Immunocompromised subjects who have no contraindication for this vaccination (see Contraindications) may not respond as well as immunocompetent subjects, therefore some of these subjects may acquire varicella despite appropriate vaccine administration. Immunocompromised subjects should be monitored carefully for signs of varicella.
Very few reports exist on disseminated varicella with internal organ involvement following vaccination with Oka varicella vaccine strain mainly in immunocompromised subjects.
Varilrix must not be administered intravascularly or intradermally.