Vaccines and Preventable Diseases:
Shingles (Herpes Zoster) Vaccination
Shingles is a painful localized skin rash often with blisters that is caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), the same virus that causes chickenpox. Anyone who has had chickenpox can develop shingles because VZV remains in the nerve cells of the body after the chickenpox infection clears and VZV can reappear years later causing shingles. Shingles most commonly occurs in people 50 years old or older, people who have medical conditions that keep the immune system from working properly, or people who receive immunosuppressive drugs.
Shingles vaccine was recently recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to reduce the risk of shingles and its associated pain in people 60 years old or older. See MMWR: Prevention of Shingles (and corrections.)
What You Should Know:
For Health Professionals:
For the Media:
What You Should Know
- Brief description
Symptoms, treatment, transmission, etc. - Questions and Answers
- Pictures of Shingles
Warning: Some of these photos are quite graphic.
- PODCAST: There’s a Vaccine for Shingles?! posted Jul 2009
- Protect Yourself Against Shingles: Get Vaccinated
- As an adult, do I need this vaccine?
(60 years old or older) - Vaccine Information Statement (VIS)
- Questions and Answers Updated May 2009
- Side Effects
As with all vaccines, there can be minor reactions, including pain and redness at the injection site, headache, fatigue or a vague feeling of discomfort.
For Health Professionals
Clinical Information on Herpes Zoster (Shingles)
- Zostavax Package Insert
- Zostavax questions and answers from FDA
- Disease-specific Q&As for providers Updated Jan 2008
- Vaccine-specific Q&As for providers Updated May 2009
- Ask the Experts
CDC experts answer your clinical questions (Immunization Action Coalition)
Vaccine Recommendations
- ACIP Recommendations Posted May 2008
Provides recommendations for its use among adults aged 60 years and older in the U.S. - Contraindications from FDA
(174 KB/10 pages)
References and Resources
- Print Ads (fact sheets, personal story, and poster) Updated Jul 2008
- Age Page on Shingles
National Institute on Aging - Resources on Shingles
National Insitute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - Shingles interactive tutorial
Patient Education Institute also available in: Spanish
Provider Education
- 2008 podcast: Immunizations Part II: Shingles Vaccine
Details on podcasts page - 2008 webcast: Zoster and Zoster Vaccine & Adolescent Vaccination Recommendations (originally aired Jan. 17, 2008) webcast only
- 2007 slides: Clinical education slide set
from the "Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases" course - 2007 broadcast: Immunization Update
- questions and answers
- slides (zoster segment only)
- broadcast
- 2006 broadcast: Adult Immunization Update
For the Media
- CDC Seeks to Protect Older Adults with Shingles Vaccine Message (138 KB/17 pages)
posted April 2008 (text-only version
) - CDC's press release
May 15, 2008
This symbol means you are leaving the CDC.gov Web site. For more information, please see CDC's Exit Notification and Disclaimer policy.
File Formats: All viewers, players, and plug-ins used on this site can be downloaded from the file formats page. (For example: Adobe Acrobat Reader for pdf files, Windows Media Player for audio and video files, PowerPoint Viewer for presentation slides, etc.)
Content last reviewed on May 22, 2009
Content Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
