The current shingles vaccine, Shingrix, appears to significantly lower the risk of heart attack and stroke, according to scientists. They suggest this could help prevent thousands of deaths each year.
Research based on the records of 70,000 people in the US found that those who received Shingrix had a 12% lower risk of a cardiovascular diagnosis in the three and a half years following vaccination. Scientists noted that if confirmed, this benefit would be comparable to taking a daily blood pressure-lowering medication.
Dr. Maxime Taquet, who led the study at the University of Oxford, stated that if confirmed in clinical trials, vaccinating older adults against shingles could prevent hundreds of thousands of coronary heart diseases, strokes, and cases of heart failure worldwide.
Shingles is a painful condition caused by the reactivation of the chickenpox virus. Shingrix, which uses newer vaccine technology, is offered to everyone over 65 in the UK.