Some societies tolerate or encourage high levels of chickenpox infection among children to reduce rates of shingles among older adults. This tradeoff is unethical. The varicella zoster virus (VZV) causes both chickenpox and shingles. After people recover from chickenpox, VZV remains in their nerve cells. If their immune systems become unable to suppress the virus, they develop shingles. According to the Exogenous Boosting Hypothesis (EBH), a person’s ability to keep VZV suppressed can be ‘boosted’ through exposure to active chickenpox infections. We argue that even if this hypothesis were true, immunization policies that discourage routine childhood varicella vaccination in order to prevent shingles for other people are unethical. Such policies harm children and treat them as mere means for the benefit of others, and are inconsistent with how parents should treat their children and physicians should treat their patients. These policies also seem incompatible with institutional transparency.

一些社会容忍或鼓励儿童中高水平的水痘感染，以减少老年人带状疱疹的发生率。这种折衷是不道德的。水痘带状疱疹病毒（VZV）引起水痘和带状疱疹。人们从水痘中康复后，VZV仍保留在其神经细胞中。如果他们的免疫系统无法抑制病毒，他们就会带状疱疹。根据外源性增强假说（EBH），可以通过暴露于活跃的水痘感染来“增强”一个人抑制VZV的能力。我们认为，即使这个假设是正确的，为防止其他人带状疱疹而阻止常规的儿童水痘疫苗接种的免疫政策也是不道德的。这些政策会伤害儿童，并将其视为仅为他人造福的手段，并且与父母应如何对待子女以及医生应如何对待患者不一致。这些政策似乎也与机构透明度不符。