The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now formally recommends Shingrix (zoster vaccine recombinant, adjuvanted) as the vaccine of choice against shingles. It is only the second shingles vaccine to gain US Food and Drug Administration approval; the first was Merck’s drug Zostavax (zoster vaccine live), which was first approved in May 2006.
Previously, the only vaccination option to provide protection against shingles came in the form of Zostavax. However, the approval of GlaxoSmithKline’s Shingrix provides another option with significantly better protection against the condition. Despite this, the CDC still recommends Zostavax for healthy adults over 60 years of age or when a patient is allergic to Shingrix.
Shingles is a viral skin infection, also known as herpes zoster, that causes a painful rash and itchy blisters with a similar appearance to chickenpox. It typically affects people over the age of 50 and lasts up to four weeks. Other symptoms of shingles include a high temperature, a general feeling of being unwell, and burning or itching skin in the affected area.
A common complication of shingles is postherpetic neuralgia, a form of nerve pain sometimes lasting for months after the visible signs of shingles are gone, affecting around one in five people who develop shingles. CDC figures estimate there are around one million cases of shingles in the United States each year, and that up to one in three people will develop shingles during their lifetime.
Zostavax offers 70 percent protection for those between 50 and 59 years of age, but only 18 percent of patients over the age of 80. However, the protection rate of Shingrix is as high as 97 percent for those in their 50s and 60s, dropping only six percentage points to 91 percent when recipients of the vaccine are in their 70s and 80s. Furthermore, studies showed Shingrix reduced the risk of postherpetic neuralgia by 67 percent.
Shingrix is a two-dose vaccine and is recommended for patients aged 50 and above, ten years earlier than the recommendations for people taking Zostavax. The CDC also suggested people already immunized against shingles with Zostavax consider supplementing their immunization with Shingrix.
“This looks to be a vaccine that will provide substantially long, persistent protection,” William Schaffner, MD, a consultant to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, told Consumer Reports. “The body responds to Shingrix much more strongly, compared to Zostavax,” the professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee added.
Shingrix is a preventative measure rather than a treatment for shingles. Treatment usually involves the use of systemic antiviral medication, notably Zovirax (acyclovir) or famciclovir. In cases of postherpetic neuralgia, or when shingles cause painful symptoms, patients may also be advised to take painkillers.
For more information on Shingrix, visit: https://www.shingrix.com
