CDC recommends shingles vaccine for older adults
It's official: Adults 60 and over should get a vaccine against the virus that causes shingles, government health experts said today.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a single dose of Zostavax even for people who have already had a case of shingles to prevent the painful condition and its potentially long-lasting after-effects. The vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006 and CDC issued a provisional recommendation then.
Dr. Martin S. Hirsch, a member of the infectious disease unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, has had shingles himself and has seen its severe complications in patients.
"I’m over 60 and I took the vaccine myself," said in an interview. "I recommend it for all people over the age of 60 unless they have a condition where it would not be safe."
Shingles comes from the same virus that causes chicken pox. Anyone who has had chicken pox -- 95 percent of the US adult population -- is vulnerable to an outbreak of shingles because the virus can lie dormant for decades near nerve roots along the spinal cord. Stress, a weakened immune system, and age can allow the virus to be reactivated. Half of people who have reached the age of 85 have already had shingles or will have a case.
Shingles can cause a blistering rash and headache, and rarely hearing loss, blindness, encephalitis, pneumonia, or death. Severe pain can linger for months or years as a condition called post-herpetic neuralgia that is more common among older people. After age 50, people are far more likely to suffer this complication.
The vaccine was tested among people 60 and older in a large randomized clinical trial that showed it blocked the disease in half the people and cut the incidence of post-herpetic neuralgia by two-thirds in those who still got shingles after being vaccinated.
"The vaccine itself is pretty safe. The only problem with it is that it’s expensive," Dr. Hirsch said. But "the payments for a case of shingles or post-herpetic neuralgia are far greater than one would have to pay for this vaccine."
The vaccine, made by Merck, can cost more than $150. People over 65 who have the Medicare Part D prescription plan will have the cost covered.
The vaccine is already covered for people 60 and older by all members of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, president Dr. Marylou Buyse said. Member plans include Aetna, US Healthcare Inc., Fallon Community Health Plan, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Harvard University Group Health Program, Health New England, Neighborhood Health Plan, Network Health, and Tufts Health Plan.
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Elizabeth Cooney is a former
health reporter for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, where she also was a
business reporter and an editor. Earlier in her career, she edited medical
books and journals at Little, Brown, and worked for Boston magazine.Boston Globe Health and Science staff:
- Gideon Gil, Health and Science Editor
- Ishani Ganguli, Short White Coat blogger
