C.D.C. Panel Recommends a New Shingles Vaccine<br />Shingrix is given in two doses, and the company said clinical trials showed it to<br />be about 98 percent effective for one year and about 85 percent over three years.<br />“Shingles is an unappreciated and common cause of severe problems throughout the nervous system.”<br />Dr. Oaklander said that while rash symptoms lead some people to consider shingles as minor as a bad<br />sunburn, the illness can cause strokes, encephalitis, spinal cord damage and loss of vision.<br />WASHINGTON — In an unusually close vote, an advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control<br />and Prevention on Wednesday recommended the use of a new vaccine to prevent shingles over an older one that was considered less effective.<br />According to the C. D.C., almost one of every three people in the United States will contract shingles, a viral infection<br />that can result in a painful rash and lasting nerve damage.<br />The recommendation of the advisory committee will be considered an endorsement of Shingrix over Zostavax,<br />although the closeness of the committee vote, 8 to 7, may mitigate the market loss for Merck.<br />By preventing shingles, the vaccine also drastically reduces the overall incidence of severe<br />nerve pain, a lasting complication for about one in three people who get shingles.<br />The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices also recommended that adults who have received the older vaccine get the new one.
