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I am 68 and got the shot when I turned 65. I wish the effectiveness were more than 50%, but I'll take what I can get.
It is - - - for you.
That 50% figure that is usually given is for all vaccine recipients 60 and over. However, the vaccine is more effective in the youngest cohort of the overall group. It is 64% for recipients between 60-69 and drops to 38% for those over 70.
In a clinical trial involving more than 38,000 adults 60 years of age or older, the vaccine reduced the overall incidence of shingles by 51% and the incidence of PHN by 67%. The efficacy of the vaccine in preventing shingles was higher in the younger age group (60-69 years; vaccine efficacy was 64%) than in the older age group (older than 70 years; vaccine efficacy was 38%).
One important thing to keep in mind about Shingles is to get familiar with the symptoms that can occur before the rash so you can get alert enough to get to a doctor the "minute" you break out.
Getting on an anti-viral ASAP ...suggested is by 72 hours, sooner the better...can make it much less severe.
The thing about shingles that makes me wonder is why we're hearing so much about it this year--but I never heard anything about it on the news at all last year or the years before that. You'd think we'd be hearing the same amount of news stories year after year if it was really such a big thing to worry about.
That if one child in the family got the mumps, etc., parents made sure the other children got it too. Why? Not sure.
I believe the thinking (justified or not) was as follows: Once a child has had the mumps, that child has lifetime immunity to it. If one gets the mumps in adulthood, it is frequently more severe with a greater chance of complications.
That 50% figure that is usually given is for all vaccine recipients 60 and over. However, the vaccine is more effective in the youngest cohort of the overall group. It is 64% for recipients between 60-69 and drops to 38% for those over 70.
In a clinical trial involving more than 38,000 adults 60 years of age or older, the vaccine reduced the overall incidence of shingles by 51% and the incidence of PHN by 67%. The efficacy of the vaccine in preventing shingles was higher in the younger age group (60-69 years; vaccine efficacy was 64%) than in the older age group (older than 70 years; vaccine efficacy was 38%).
Thanks for providing that more nuanced information.
Is there any reason to wait until you're 60 to get this vaccine? If it can strike some people in their 50s you'd think they'd want people to get vaccinated a lot earlier. Is it really just a matter of the vaccine being in short supply (somehow that seems like an odd reason)?
I know 2 people that got Shingles that had the vaccine. My Dad won't get it, he's 83, I can't afford it, it's like 250.00 or something ridiculous like that.
The thing about shingles that makes me wonder is why we're hearing so much about it this year--but I never heard anything about it on the news at all last year or the years before that. You'd think we'd be hearing the same amount of news stories year after year if it was really such a big thing to worry about.
Seriously I think it has to do with the folks selling the vacine.. I am well over 60 and had shingles a few years ago. At that time I don't believe there was a vacine. There have been some comments about heredity (sp) I think that is false because no one in my family ever had shingles.
I got shingles in April 2006. I remember the big news announcement two months later when the FDA approved the use of the vaccine. I believe the vaccine was in short supply for some years after that, presumably because of the big demand.
The vaccine has live viruses which must be kept frozen during storage. I know the big pharmacy chain in my city doesn't carry the vaccine for that reason. When the vaccine is removed from the freezer, it must be used within 30 minutes before the live viruses die.
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Does Anyone Remember?
