CDC Recommends Shingles Vaccine
People age 60 and older should be vaccinated against shingles, or herpes zoster, a condition often marked by
debilitating chronic pain, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended today.
CDC recommends a single dose of the zoster vaccine, Zostavax, for adults 60 years of age and older even if
they have had a prior episode of shingles. The new full recommendation replaces a provisional recommendation
that the CDC made in 2006, after the vaccine was licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and
recommended by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a committee of
immunization experts who advise CDC on immunization policy.
The recommendation was published in an early release electronic edition of CDC’s Mortality and Morbidity
Weekly Report (MMWR) Recommendations and Reports. The ACIP recommendation becomes CDC policy
once it is published in the MMWR.
Researchers found that, overall, in those ages 60 and above the vaccine reduced the occurrence of shingles by
about 50 percent. For individuals ages 60-69 it reduced occurrence by 64 percent. The most common side
effects in people who received Zostavax were redness, pain and tenderness, swelling at the site of injection,
itching and headache.
Over 95 percent of people are infected by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), during their lifetime. The virus
causes the common childhood disease chickenpox and then becomes dormant within the nerves. If it reactivates
later in life, the result can be shingles. Shingles is characterized by clusters of blisters, which develop on one
side of the body in a band-like pattern and can cause severe pain that may last for weeks, months or years.
About one in three persons will develop shingles during their lifetimes, resulting in about one million cases of
shingles per year.
Chickenpox (also called varicella) is usually mild, but it can be serious, especially in young infants and adults.
Children who have never had chickenpox should get