No Excuses, People: Get the New Shingles Vaccine<br />“This really is a sea change,” said Dr. Rafael Harpaz, a veteran shingles researcher at the C. D.C.<br />Dr. William Schaffner, preventive disease specialist at the Vanderbilt University School of<br />Medicine, said, “This vaccine has spectacular initial protection rates in every age group.<br />Shingrix racked up a 97 percent effectiveness rate in adults over age 50 and, in a separate study<br />of people over age 70, prevented 90 percent of shingles in those 70 to well past age 80.<br />“In groups such as the elderly, who often don’t maintain vigorous responses to vaccines, this represents<br />extremely strong disease protection,” said Dr. Kathleen Dooling, an epidemiologist at the C. D.C.<br />* Shingrix’s protection appears to last longer.<br />The currently available shingles vaccine, called Zostavax, only prevents about half of shingles cases in those over age 60<br />and has demonstrated far less effectiveness among elderly patients.<br />The committee also recommended Shingrix for adults who’ve previously gotten Zostavax, since a smaller<br />study in people over age 65 demonstrated effectiveness and safety in those already vaccinated.<br />That vaccine’s effectiveness drops from 64 percent for people in their 60s to 38<br />percent among those over age 70, and falls still lower for people in their 80s.
