New shingles vaccine may work better, but with more side effects
The NEJM study involved more than 15,000 participants 50 and older. The new vaccine was 97% to 98% effective across all age groups. Over 3.2 years, the study documented only six cases of shingles in people who got the new vaccine, compared with 210 cases in those who received a placebo. This is potentially a big improvement over the older shingles vaccine, called Zostavax. In people in their 50s, Zostavax is 70% effective, but this drops by almost half in people 70 and older.
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