Shingles Vaccine Found to Prevent Heart Failure, Strokes, and Heart-Related Deaths

The blockbuster headlines need some caution when the details are examined.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

A friend asked me what I thought about a new study showing fewer strokes, heart failure, and heart-related deaths after patients were vaccinated against shingles. I had not heard about this before, but I found this reference. After reading it, I concluded that more studies are needed before reaching this conclusion.

There has been some intriguing data on this vaccine lessening the chances of dementia. However, the new study about heart disease prevention is even more exciting. But before we dive into this, let me endorse the vaccine for its stated purpose. Everyone over 50 should get a shingles vaccine. The most popular one in the USA now is Shingrix. If you know anyone who has had shingles, it is very painful, may last for months or years, and is 95% preventable with the vaccine.

But how excited should we be ab…