Shingles vaccine?

[jimbob]

I never understood the reason why the chicken pox vaccine isn't supplied on the NHS. I believe it's because of the population that is previously been exposed so susceptible to shingles, but I'd have thought that's why the shingles vaccine is around l. And it would reduce the overall population risk.

 

[dann]

Actually, people who already had chicken pox and may thus get shingles is an argument for vaccinating children against chicken pox.
Shingles are not contagious as shingles, but shingles is contagious as chicken pox.
I think it's stupid to write: "Shingles is not contagious." It's bound to be misunderstood.

Is shingles contagious? (MedlinePlus)
Shingles is not contagious. You cannot get shingles from someone else. But you can catch chickenpox from someone with shingles if you have direct contact with fluid from their shingles rash.

So somebody with shingles (parents, teachers, nurses) may actually infect children with chicken pox! I don't see why it would have to be "direct contact with fluid." Shingles is contagious. It's a flare up of the same bloody virus that gave you chicken pox a long time ago, but if you pass it on to somebody else, it's chicken pox. It was the point of my post #79.

An argument for not vaccinating children against chicken pox was that it was thought that being exposed to outbreaks of chicken pox helped 'reimmunize' people who had already had it, thus preventing them from getting shingles, but recent studies haven't confirmed the idea.
Besides, even if it were true, I see no reason why children should get chicken pox in order to protect me from getting shingles!
Vaccinate children against chicken pox and adults against shingles!

 

[dann]

I had a single injection in 2023 and was told it was one and done, i.e. I would never need another one. So I presumed it was not Shingrix but Zostavax, and that was me done. So I was surprised to receive a text a few days ago from my surgery, inviting me to make an appointment for a shingles jab. I've looked up Zostavax and it seems it's only good for three years, but even so this seems early for a booster, and it's obviously very late if it was actually Shingrix.

I never turn down a vaccine so I've made an appointment, but I will make sure to tell the nurse when I get there that I had one two years ago. I'm wondering if they've decided to give the Shingrix one to everyone, even if they've already had the Zostavax.

I think you presumed correctly:

Shingles immunisation programme: information for healthcare practitioners (Gov.UK, updated 25 November 2024)
Zostavax vaccine
Zostavax is the vaccine which was used from the introduction of the shingles vaccination programme in 2013 until 31 October 2024 when the last batch of vaccine supplied through ImmForm expired. It is a live, attenuated varicella-zoster vaccine given as a single dose, that contains a high antigen content of varicella zoster virus (Oka/Merck strain, not less than 19,400 plaque-forming units). From 01 November 2024 it is no longer available for the UK programme.

 

[dann]

They're given a bit further apart here; I had my first dose in April, still waiting to be called for the second. And I agree I don't want the shingles, my partner had it a couple of years ago, and I can do without that!

I had like 6 weeks between my first and second shot. (Maybe more; my memory is a bit hazy.)

In Denmark, an interval of two to six months is recommended. (By the way, shingles in Danish is helvedesild, i.e. 'fire from hell'! )
I think this explains why the interval was only a week in Norman Alexander's case:

We got our Shingrix vaxx before we started a lot of international travelling. Do NOT want shingles or any other easily-acquired virus, thanks all the same. FYI, Shingrix is two injections a week apart. The first does give you a whack for a day or two. The second has almost zero effect.

 

[Pixel42]

I think you presumed correctly:

Thanks for that link, according to which:

Individuals who received Zostavax as part of the routine programme​

Immunocompetent individuals who received Zostavax previously on the routine immunisation programme (between 70 and 79 years of age) are not eligible for additional doses of shingles vaccine and should not be revaccinated or offered Shingrix now.

So I don't think I should have been offered it. I'm now wondering if I should say something, or keep quiet and take advantage of the extra protection it offers. From the rest of the article it doesn't seem to be a problem to have both.

 

[dann]

I would go for it! Shingrix appears to be superior to Zostavax. I had to pay for mine, approximately £200.

 

[Puppycow]

Yeah, I had to pay for mine too, and it wasn't cheap.

 

[rjh01]

I have had both types of vaccine. The doctor said this was ok.

 

[sackett]

I've had:

• childhood chicken pox (age 5)
• adult shingles (in 1987)
• two shingles jabs in the last 5 years (dunno which)
• minimal anxiety (but I could be alarmed w/out much effort)

I hate the modern world.

 

[dann]

(dunno which)

Probably Shingrix:

ACIP Recommendations: Zoster (Shingles) Vaccine (CDC, July 26, 2024)
Note: A shingles vaccine called zoster vaccine live (Zostavax) is no longer available for use in the United States, as of November 18, 2020.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I had a single injection in 2023 and was told it was one and done, i.e. I would never need another one. So I presumed it was not Shingrix but Zostavax, and that was me done. So I was surprised to receive a text a few days ago from my surgery, inviting me to make an appointment for a shingles jab. I've looked up Zostavax and it seems it's only good for three years, but even so this seems early for a booster, and it's obviously very late if it was actually Shingrix.

I never turn down a vaccine so I've made an appointment, but I will make sure to tell the nurse when I get there that I had one two years ago. I'm wondering if they've decided to give the Shingrix one to everyone, even if they've already had the Zostavax.

You're fine getting the shingrix.

There is no such thing as one and done* when it comes to vaccines developed in the last couple decades. They haven't been around long enough to know. And we are also learning that for things like chicken pox it might be recurrent exposure to active infections that boost the vaccine over the years. It's only an hypothesis, mind you. For a live vaccine the varicella virus is not eliminated, rather it remains viable in a nerve root.

There are no blanket patterns for viral infections or vaccines.

*A lot of us learned such beliefs but those of us who stayed in the field longer unlearned some initial beliefs.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Probably not, but even if it were, it would be better to have at least some immunity before getting the disease itself. As in the case of C19 ...
I just googled "vaccine-induced immunity". The top result was this one:

However, what you get now if you use the link is this:

Thanks to RFK Jr., I assume!

Not a bad guess.

See my post above, there is a lot of variability depending on the pathogen. But that blanket statement is right out of the recesses of RFK's damaged brain.

The natural idiocy is one of many possibilities. Toxic masculinity is another. 'I'm a big strong man, and vaccines are for pussies'. (It works particularly well if the actual reason is trypanophobia.) Nowadays, many people won't get the vaccines because it's frowned upon in the MAGA cult.

 

[Trebuchet]

We got our Shingrix vaxx before we started a lot of international travelling. Do NOT want shingles or any other easily-acquired virus, thanks all the same. FYI, Shingrix is two injections a week apart. The first does give you a whack for a day or two. The second has almost zero effect.

I don't think shingles is an "easily-acquired virus" when you're travelling. Those at risk from it are those who had Chicken Pox as a child. That means mostly older folks from before there was a chicken pox vaccine.
I had chicken pox as a child in the mid 1950's (thanks, mom, for arranging the chicken pox party!), shingles about 1980, which was awful, the earlier shingles vaccine about 10 years ago, and Shingrix a couple of years ago.
I expect to become autistic any moment now.

 

[Norman Alexander]

I don't think shingles is an "easily-acquired virus" when you're travelling. Those at risk from it are those who had Chicken Pox as a child. That means mostly older folks from before there was a chicken pox vaccine.

Yeah, my syntax sucked. I meant: We don't want shingles, and when we travel we don't want easily-acquired viruses. And yes, we were children who got chicken pox when young. Mine was particularly unfortunate timing - two weeks before my final, and most important, high school exams.

I had chicken pox as a child in the mid 1950's (thanks, mom, for arranging the chicken pox party!), shingles about 1980, which was awful, the earlier shingles vaccine about 10 years ago, and Shingrix a couple of years ago.
I expect to become autistic any moment now.

I've been autistic for ages. I like to paint and take photographs and write books about stuff. We visit art galleries and study architecture...

What...?

 

[Trebuchet]

Yeah, my syntax sucked. I meant: We don't want shingles, and when we travel we don't want easily-acquired viruses. And yes, we were children who got chicken pox when young. Mine was particularly unfortunate timing - two weeks before my final, and most important, high school exams.

I've been autistic for ages. I like to paint and take photographs and write books about stuff. We visit art galleries and study architecture...

What...?

OMG! You must have been vaccinated!

 

[Norman Alexander]

OMG! You must have been vaccinated!

Yeah, so what??

 

[Pixel42]

I had a single injection in 2023 and was told it was one and done, i.e. I would never need another one. So I presumed it was not Shingrix but Zostavax, and that was me done. So I was surprised to receive a text a few days ago from my surgery, inviting me to make an appointment for a shingles jab. I've looked up Zostavax and it seems it's only good for three years, but even so this seems early for a booster, and it's obviously very late if it was actually Shingrix.

I never turn down a vaccine so I've made an appointment, but I will make sure to tell the nurse when I get there that I had one two years ago. I'm wondering if they've decided to give the Shingrix one to everyone, even if they've already had the Zostavax.

So I don't think I should have been offered it. I'm now wondering if I should say something, or keep quiet and take advantage of the extra protection it offers. From the rest of the article it doesn't seem to be a problem to have both.

Update on this:

I went to the surgery today for my shot but the nurse told me she'd checked my records and said "the system" had called me in error as I'd already been vaccinated 2 years ago. I said I had been surprised to be called, but had assumed it had been decided to give the new Shingrix vaccine to those who had previously been given the old, now discontinued, one. Perhaps because of the studies showing it also protected against dementia? She was obviously surprised I knew so much about it (she asked who I'd talked to, and seemed a bit non plussed when I said I got such information from the NHS web site), but remained adamant that I've already had all the shingles vaccines I'll ever need. So no Shingrix for me.

In the meantime I've received another text inviting me to book an appointment for the pneumococcal vaccine. I'm quite sure I haven't had one of those before, and have scheduled it for 11th August.

 

[Rolfe]

I had my second dose early this afternoon. Went for a ten-mile bike ride in the late afternoon without even thinking about it, feel fine.

 

[dann]

Post about COVID-19 and shingles in the Covid thread.

 

[dann]

Eric Feigl-Ding on X, Oct 14, 2025
DEMENTIA PREVENTION—Almost everyone needs to go out now and get the shingles vaccine ASAP. Don’t wait until age 50 for standard eligibility—ask your doctor for singles vax. MULTIPLE large studies worldwide now show that shingles vaccine strongly prevents dementia onset. Do it.

Denis - The COVID info guy on X, Oct 17, 2025
Doctors in China report a surge in shingles among younger adults, especially those who had COVID-19. Media call it “the undying cancer” of the post-pandemic era.
Some speculate links to shingles to vaccines, but no studies confirm any connection.
Source: https://archive.li/GdDiB

https://x.com/BigBadDenis/status/1979034841640255977/photo/1