Around 1 in 3 people will develop shingles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Antiviral medications can treat shingles, but they work best if you take them shortly after the rash appears, and they can’t cure the infection. You’re better off avoiding shingles in the first place. That’s why the shingles shot is one of several recommended vaccines for adults.
What Causes Shingles? Blame the Chickenpox Virus
If you’ve had chickenpox, you’re at risk for shingles. Varicella zoster, the virus that causes chickenpox, stays inactive in your body long after symptoms clear. Years later, the virus can reactivate, causing shingles.
The varicella vaccine, which is recommended for children, teens and adults, can prevent chickenpox by protecting against the varicella zoster virus. The vaccine also protects against shingles, although it’s still possible to develop shingles after varicella vaccination.
Recognizing Your Risk
Having had chickenpox is the main risk factor for shingles. Other factors that can increase your risk include:
- Being older than 50
- Having a weakened immune system due to disease, stress or medical treatment
- Having cancer
Symptoms and Complications: Reasons to Pursue Shingles Prevention
Shingles typically lasts three to five weeks, according to the National Institutes of Health, and it can turn life upside down until it passes. At first, you may have pain in the form of burning or tingling on one side of the body. Days later, a painful rash of blisters will appear, also (typically) on one side of the body. Other shingles symptoms include fever, chills and headache.
Complications of shingles can have lasting effects on your health, which makes preventing infection all the more important. Some people with shingles develop postherpetic neuralgia, a type of nerve pain that can become chronic. Other patients may experience short-term or permanent vision loss, hearing problems or pneumonia.
Shingles Prevention: Protection through Vaccination
Without shingles vaccination, there’s not much you can do to prevent infection, except avoid people with chickenpox if you haven’t had it. The shingles vaccine (also known as the recombinant zoster vaccine) can’t prevent every case of infection, but it’s more than 90 percent effective in adults 50 and older with healthy immune systems, according to the CDC.
If you’re 50 or older, or 19 or older with a weakened immune system, the shingles vaccine is recommended for you. You can get the vaccine, which is a two-dose series, even if you’ve had a previous case of shingles, the chickenpox vaccine or an older type of shingles vaccine that’s no longer available in the U.S.
Your primary care provider can help you decide whether to get the shingles vaccine. If you’re wondering about side effects, you may experience arm soreness, muscle pain, fever or other symptoms, but they’re temporary—and signs the vaccine is working as intended.
More to Read
- Your Quick and Easy Guide to Adult Vaccines
- 10 Common Vaccine Myths Busted
- Strengthen Your Immune System with 7 Simple Strategies
- What You Need to Know About Avoiding the Flu
Medically reviewed by Mohit Negi, MD.
