Why You Should Schedule Your Shingles Vaccination Today (Not Tomorrow)

If you’ve ever had or been exposed to chickenpox, you should know that you can also get shingles. Shingles is the reactivation of the herpes zoster virus that lies dormant in your body after you’ve had chickenpox. It causes a painful, burning rash.

Luckily, the shingles vaccine can help reduce your risk of shingles and its complications.

“As soon as you’re eligible to get the shingles vaccine, you should get it,” says Stella Safo, MD, Primary Care Physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

Why should you not put off getting your shingles vaccine?

If you were born before the 1980s, chances are strong that you had chickenpox. (A vaccine to prevent chickenpox is now part of the vaccine schedule for babies.) That means that the herpes zoster virus is dormant in your body, and it can be reactivated as shingles.

“A couple of things can cause [the virus] to reactivate, like stress, having a lowered immune response, [and] pregnancy,” explains Safo.

Safo says that getting the shingles vaccine is important because you can reduce your risk of getting postherpetic neuralgia. This is an extremely painful nerve condition that’s a complication of shingles.

“[Postherpetic neuralgia] can persist for months or years,” she explains. “It is incredibly, incredibly painful, so painful that it can cause you to not be able to work, it can cause you to have trouble sleeping, it can cause you to have trouble doing your activities that you’ve enjoyed doing before.”

“I would definitely recommend getting vaccinated because it can reduce the chances of having some of these complications,” Safo says.

Who is eligible for the shingles vaccine?

If you're 50 and older, you should be eligible to get the shingles vaccine. You also may be eligible starting at age 19 if you have any immune system issues, if you take medicines that affect your immune system, or if you have the HIV virus. 

You can talk to your primary care doctor or a pharmacist to learn if you’re eligible for the shingles vaccine.

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Written by:

Marisa Taylor Karas

Marisa Taylor Karas is a freelance journalist based in Brooklyn who has covered health, gender, and technology for 15 years. She previously worked at The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and Al Jazeera America, among other publications, and also served as managing editor of the Mellon Foundation in New York City.

Reviewed by:

Alexandra Schwarz, MD

Alexandra Schwarz, MD, is a board-eligible sleep medicine physician and a board-certified family medicine physician. She is a member of both the AASM and the ABFM.

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