Chickenpox Vaccination Greatly Reduces The Incidence Of Shingles

Chickenpox vaccination greatly reduces the incidence of shingles

Children vaccinated against chickenpox are significantly less likely to develop shingles, according to a new study by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Medical Research and published in Pediatrics.

Photo: Google Images /

Children vaccinated against chickenpox are significantly less likely to develop shingles, according to a new study by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Medical Research and published in Pediatrics.

Shingles (herpes zoster) is caused by the same virus as chickenpox. The virus remains in the body of a person who has had chickenpox, the immune system usually keeps it under control. However, the virus can reactivate in the form of painful rashes that can lead to long-term neuralgia. About a third of people who have had chickenpox have at least one case of shingles. Although this condition is more common in older people due to a weakened immune system, children can also develop shingles.

“Since the introduction of the varicella-zoster vaccine, we knew how effective it was in preventing children from getting this itchy and painful disease, but we decided to determine if the vaccine would also reduce the risk of shingles. Our results show that the vaccine does indeed reduce the chances of getting shingles in children, highlighting the double benefit of the chickenpox vaccine,”explained lead researcher Sheila Weinmann.

The study examined the electronic health records of more than 6.3 million children between 2003 and 2014. Approximately 50% of children were vaccinated during part or all of the study period.

Scientists have found that the risk of shingles is much lower in vaccinated than in unvaccinated children. The following conclusions were made:

Over the 12-year study period, the incidence rate in children declined overall by 72% as the number of children vaccinated increased.

• The incidence of vaccinated children was 78% lower than that of unvaccinated children.
• The incidence rates in immunocompromised children who could not receive the vaccine were 5-6 times higher than those with unimmunocompromised children.

“We looked at the incidence of herpes zoster as a whole, at how many cases there were per 100,000 person-years, including by age and sex. We saw the highest rates of shingles in the early years of the study, when there was a higher proportion of children, especially older children, who had not received the chickenpox vaccine,”said Sheila Weinmann.

Overall, the ratio of shingles cases per 100,000 person-years was 38 to 170 in the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups (person-years is the product of the number of children enrolled in the study and the amount of time each child was in the study).

The incidence of herpes zoster among unvaccinated children increased from 2003 to 2007 and then declined sharply towards the end of the study period. The fact is that the increase in the level of vaccination during this time has reduced the risk of contracting shingles in general for all children, including the unvaccinated. The decrease could also be associated with the introduction of a second dose of the vaccine into the vaccination schedule (since 2007), since the incidence was significantly lower in children who received not 1-dose, but 2-dose vaccinations.