FOX4: Saint Luke's Family Physician talks about the New Shingles Vaccine

According to the CDC, Shingles is a painful rash disease. Shingles can lead to severe nerve pain called postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) that can last for months or years after the rash goes away. Shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus—the same virus that causes chickenpox. If you’ve ever had chickenpox, you can get shingles. Almost 1 out of 3 people in the United States will develop shingles in their lifetime. You can get shingles at any age, but it’s more common in older adults. Older adults also are more likely to have severe disease. 

The new Shingles vaccine, Shingrix®, is a two shot series and is 97% effective compared to 40% for the previous version. With this new vaccine, the age lowered from 65 to 50 years of age. 

Hear more from Dr. Todd Fristo, family physician at Saint Luke's Primary Care, on FOX4.