(1) What is Shingrix?
Shingrix is an FDA-approved vaccine for the prevention of shingles (herpes zoster) in adults 50 years and older. Shingrix is not used to prevent chickenpox. Shingles is an itchy and painful skin rash caused by reactivation of the varicella zoster virus [the same virus still in your body from childhood chickenpox]. GSK’s Shingrix uses your body’s own immune cells to boost your immune system’s defenses against shingles. It is the only shingles vaccine proven to be up to 90% effective in clinical trials. [1]
(2) If I feel healthy am I really at risk for shingles?
If you’re one of the more than 95% of adults over 50 years old who have had chickenpox, the virus that causes shingles is inside your body and can reactivate at any time. One in every three people in the US will get shingles in their lifetime. No matter how healthy you feel, your immune system declines as you age, and that puts you at an increased risk for shingles. [1]
(3) What protection against shingles does Shingrix provide?
Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, says this vaccine has spectacular initial protection rates in every age group. The immune system of a 70 or 80 year-old responds to Shingrix as if the person were only 25 or 30 years-old; thus protecting nearly as well in older groups as in the middle-aged. Shingrix racked up a 97% effectiveness rate in adults over age 50 and, in a separate study of people over age 70, prevented 90% of shingles in those 70 to well past age 80. [2]
(Click HERE to read more Shingrix Vaccine FAQs)
