A shingles vaccine is available for adults 50 years of age and older in the United States. The vaccine prevents much of the pain and suffering caused by shingles when the virus that causes chickenpox reawakens in those with aging or compromised immune systems.
What is shingles?
Shingles is a disease caused by the reawakening (or reactivation) of chickenpox virus. Shingles most often occurs in elderly people and people with weakened immune systems. Common symptoms of shingles include a rash, usually along a nerve path, and severe pain. Sometimes the pain can last for months and be so debilitating that typical daily routines are disrupted.
How common is shingles?
Every year in the United States shingles affects between 500,000 and 1 million people. Individuals have a 20-30 percent chance of getting shingles during their lifetime. About half of the people who live to 85 years old will get shingles.
Is shingles dangerous?
Although people do not die from shingles, they can be severely hurt by it. Perhaps the most common and debilitating complication is persistent, long-lived pain. The pain can be so severe that it leads to sleeplessness; feelings of helplessness and depression; weight loss; anorexia; interference with basic daily activities, such as dressing, bathing and eating; and inability to participate in normal social activities. The pain can last for months or even years. Alongside the pain caused by labor and that of corneal abrasions, the pain caused by shingles is among the most debilitating pains in medicine. Shingles-induced pain can be so relentlessly debilitating that it can be a cause for suicide.
About 15 of every 100 people with shingles have blisters that are associated with nerves around the eyes. This can result in reduced vision and blindness.
Scarring and concurrent bacterial infections can also occur at the site of the rash.
Are shingles vaccines free at walgreens?
Shingles (herpes zoster) vaccine
Schedule your vaccine today
Recommended for
Ages 50+ or immunocompromised adults
Frequency
2 doses 2–6 months apart
(1–2 months apart for immunocompromised adults)
