Shingles vaccine recommended for adults over 60

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended a single shot of Shingles vaccine to the people who are 60 or older. Though the vaccine does not guarantee hundred percent protection from the disease, the chances of prevention are good.

Herpes zoster commonly known as Shingles is a viral disease in which there is a painful skin rash with blisters in a limited area on one side of the body. Shingles comes from the same virus that causes chicken pox which generally occurs in children and young people.

Chicken pox is a very common disease and 95% of the US adult population has suffered from it at one time or the other. All these people are vulnerable to an outbreak of shingles as the virus is not eliminated from the body and can go on to cause shingles, often many years after the initial infection. After age 50, people are far more likely to suffer this complication.

Shingles can cause a blistering rash and headache and rarely hearing loss, blindness, encephalitis, pneumonia, or death.

The vaccination was recommended by an influential government advisory panel in 2006 and CDC had recommended it on provisional basis at that time. It took CDC almost 18 months to adopt the recommendation completely.

The tests were conducted among the people who were 60 or older. The selection for vaccination random and it showed that the vaccine 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 researchers have found that the vaccine decreases the chances of occurrence of shingles by about 50 percent in people age 60 and older. For people ages 60 to 69, it cuts the occurrence of the disease by 64 percent, the CDC said.

"The vaccine itself is pretty safe. The only problem with it is that it’s expensive," said Dr. Martin S. Hirsch, a member of the infectious disease unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, who himself has suffered from this disease. But "the payments for a case of shingles or post-herpetic neuralgia are far greater than one would have to pay for this vaccine."

One shot of the vaccine costs almost $160. Merck & Co. is the only company that manufactures Shingles vaccine. The company has already sold around 2.5 million doses of the vaccine.

The announcement should encourage more doctors to give the shot and lead more private insurers to pay for it, said Kelley Dougherty of Merck & Co.

Following the announcement, Merck shares were up 11 cents to $39.94 at the New York Stock Exchange trading.