Shingles vaccine cut zoster by about half
In older US adults, herpes zoster vaccination showed ~48% effectiveness against incident zoster and ~59–62% against post-herpetic neuralgia.
Source
Herpes zoster vaccine effectiveness against incident herpes zoster and post-herpetic neuralgia in an older US population: a cohort study
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cohort — US Medicare beneficiaries followed for zoster vaccination and incident zoster/PHN
- N
- N=766330
- Population
- Eligible older US Medicare beneficiaries
- Outcome
- Vaccine effectiveness against incident herpes zoster and post-herpetic neuralgia
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
Inspect source passages
Shingles vaccine cut zoster by about half
These passages occur verbatim in the stored paper text. They support the points listed below; they do not verify every statement in the explanation.
Overall VE 48% against incident zoster; 62%/59% against PHN.
Overall VE of 48% was demonstrated against incident herpes zoster, 62% against PHN after 30 d and 59% against PHN after 90 d.
29,785 of 766,330 (3.9%) were vaccinated.
Of the 766,330 eligible participants, 29,785 (3.9% of people; 2.1% of person-time) had herpes zoster vaccination during the study period.
What they did
A cohort of 766,330 eligible older Medicare beneficiaries was followed for zoster vaccination and incident herpes zoster/PHN, estimating adjusted vaccine effectiveness.
What they found
Overall VE ~48% against incident zoster; 62% against PHN at 30 days and 59% at 90 days; uptake was only 3.9% and lower in Black and low-income groups.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Randomized efficacy in this dataset, or precise VE in highly immunosuppressed subgroups (small numbers).
Key terms
- Vaccine effectiveness (VE)
- Real-world reduction in disease among vaccinated vs unvaccinated.
- Herpes zoster
- Shingles—reactivation of varicella-zoster virus.
- PHN
- Post-herpetic neuralgia—persistent pain after zoster.
- Medicare cohort
- Older US beneficiaries followed in administrative claims.
- Immunosuppression
- Weakened immunity that raises zoster risk and complicates VE estimates.
- Uptake disparity
- Lower vaccination rates in older, Black, or low-income groups.
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Overall VE against incident zoster:
Common questions
What was overall VE against zoster?
About 48% (adjusted VE 0.48).
What about PHN?
VE ~62% at 30 days and ~59% at ≥90 days.
How common was vaccination?
Only 3.9% of eligible people vaccinated.
Who had lower uptake?
Oldest adults, Black individuals, and those with low income.
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