Since the beginning of 2025, nearly all regions of Russia have reported a sharp increase in chickenpox cases, Izvestiareported, citing Rospotrebnadzor (the Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being). The worst situation is observed in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, where from January to September the number of infections rose by 67% compared to the same period last year. In Bashkortostan, incidence has more than doubled year-on-year — reaching 16,500 cases. In the Voronezh region, the figure also doubled, while in the Altai Republic more than 1,400 people contracted the disease in the first seven months of 2025 — nearly as many as in the entire year of 2024 (1,600 cases). According to Rospotrebnadzor, adults account for 5.2% of all chickenpox cases this year, while 94.8% are among children — roughly the same proportion as last year.
The rise in infections comes amid a severe shortage of chickenpox vaccines. Russia has no domestically produced vaccine for the disease, and the only available one — Varilrix by the British company GSK — remains in short supply, said Nikolay Bespalov, Development Director at RNC Pharma. According to the analytical company, Russia received almost 400,000 doses of this vaccine between January and August 2025, compared with 281,300 doses for the entire previous year. However, despite the increased supply, the shortage persists. “Demand is several times higher than supply. Only the most persistent manage to get vaccinated,” said Antonina Oblasova, Director and Co-founder of the NGO Collective Immunity.
Bespalov suggested that the regional shortage of Varilrix could be linked to logistical issues or poor procurement planning. “The vaccine is not included in the National Vaccination Schedule (NVS), but vaccination against chickenpox is listed in the schedule of preventive vaccinations for epidemiological indications,” he explained. Because it is excluded from the NVS, regions must purchase the vaccine with their own funds — and not all local governments allocate enough resources for it.
At the same time, so-called “chickenpox parties” are becoming increasingly popular across Russia. Parents deliberately seek out infected children so their own can catch the virus. Experts, however, consider this practice a dangerous relic. According to infectious disease specialist Vladimir Neronov, it is impossible to predict how an individual will react to the infection. Moreover, infected children can spread the virus to vulnerable groups — including pregnant women, newborns, the elderly, and cancer patients. Neronov added that in recent years, there have been reported cases of severe chickenpox in adults, including some with fatal outcomes.
