LONDON The Government is to look into whether children should be vaccinated against chickenpox, possibly in a four-in-one jab combined with the measles, mumps and rubella inoculation. A group of scientists has been asked by the Department of Health to examine the case for the vaccine, on the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “This work is at a very early stage.”

The chickenpox vaccine is routine in the US but experts have previously said that more work needs to be done to see if mass vaccination would be beneficial.

A vaccine against chickenpox was licensed in Britain in 2002 but it has never been part of routine childhood vaccinations and is not recommended for standard use.

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