WHO position paper on varicella vaccines – November 2025

Overview

In accordance with its mandate to provide normative guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and combinations of vaccines against diseases that have an international public health impact. These papers are concerned primarily with the use of vaccines in large-scale vaccination programmes.

The position papers are intended for use by national public health officials and managers of immunization programmes. They may also be of interest to international funding agencies, vaccine advisory groups, vaccine manufacturers, health professionals, researchers, the scientific media and the general public.

Recommendations on the use of varicella and herpes zoster vaccination were issued by the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization at its meeting in March 2025 and endorsed by WHO thereafter. Evidence presented at these meetings, as well as SAGE’s most recent declaration of interest assessment, can be accessed at: https://www.who.int/news-room/events/ detail/2025/03/10/default-calendar/strategic-advisory-group-of-experts-on-immunization-march-2025.

The vaccine position papers are drafted by the WHO SAGE secretariat. They summarize essential background information on diseases and vaccines and conclude with the current WHO position on the use of vaccines worldwide. Before finalization, the papers are reviewed by a large group of external subject-matter experts and end-users. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) and evidence-to-recommendation tables are published alongside the position paper. The methods followed by SAGE and the process for preparation of vaccine position papers are described at: www. who.int/publications/i/item/9789240090729.

This vaccine position paper is concerned with evidence on the performance and safety of varicella and varicella antigen-containing combination vaccines, as well as the population-level impact when used in national immunization programmes. It provides recommendations on the use of these vaccines and may contain off-label recommendations. This current position paper supersedes the one on varicella and herpes zoster vaccination published in June 2014. The position paper on herpes zoster vaccination was published in July 2025.