Considering the Higgs field permeates all of space how is it related to a vacuum?

Is the Higgs a by-product of a vacuum? I've read that the Higgs is "the energy of the vacuum from which all else came." Can someone explain this? Why did a vacuum exist in the first place? Does the universe exist within a vacuum? Any thoughts on the idea that matter is a 3-D representation of 2-D information?