101–110 of 234 posts
The mechanism is that people with the shingles vaccine are less likely to visit the hospital (because they don't get shingles). Because they have fewer hospital visits they are less likely to receive an incidental diagnosis of dementia from a hospital.
I'm in my 40s with genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's. Been seriously considering the past year or two paying out of pocket for Shingrix. I think it would be ~$500 total for two doses. Sure, I could wait 7 or 8 years until I qualify via insurance, but is that really worth the risk for what is an easily absorbed cost to me? Especially when I have a friend in her late 30s who just went through a very rough bout of…
Shingles terrifies me because it can cause hearing loss. I spoke to my GP and he wouldn't give me a script for it even though I'm 3 years away from qualifying. He mentioned side effects.
I'm in my 40s with genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's. Been seriously considering the past year or two paying out of pocket for Shingrix. I think it would be ~$500 total for two doses. Sure, I could wait 7 or 8 years until I qualify via insurance, but is that really worth the risk for what is an easily absorbed cost to me? Especially when I have a friend in her late 30s who just went through a very rough bout of…
Wait, you can just pay for the shingles vaccine, before you're 50? Where do I do that? I had shingles in my 30s. It was the sickest I've ever been.
It's weird that they kinda gloss over the very real and open questions here, because the idea that the AS01 adjuvant is involved in the dementia protection is very much alive and an ongoing topic. A paper from last year[1] looked into it and found that the Shingrix shingles vaccine and the RSV vaccine are about the same in their risk reduction for dementia (with a bunch of caveats).
I believe the current evidence point to the shingles vaccine helping, but also a protective effect happening from the AS01 adjuvant on its own.
I'm not a researcher but my layman's take is that the Economist whiffed it here, and there's a more interesting and complicated story to be told beyond this clickbait-adjacent science journalism.
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> Japan was among the first countries to vaccinate for chickenpox. The vaccine developed by Hilleman was first licensed in the United States in 1995.[17][60] People (well, Americans and Canadians at least) in their 40s now generally didn't get vaccinated as children, as their parents didn't have the option. It will be different for the next generation.
Interestingly UK took a different approach and only started offering chicken pox vaccines for children this year. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/free-chickenpox-vaccinati...
I'm in my 40s with genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's. Been seriously considering the past year or two paying out of pocket for Shingrix. I think it would be ~$500 total for two doses. Sure, I could wait 7 or 8 years until I qualify via insurance, but is that really worth the risk for what is an easily absorbed cost to me? Especially when I have a friend in her late 30s who just went through a very rough bout of…
But I am with you. My personal bet is we'll know more about this by the time that becomes an issue.
The earliest cohorts of vaccinated children are approaching their 30s, so we should learn about long term efficacy this decade.
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Wait, you can just pay for the shingles vaccine, before you're 50? Where do I do that? I had shingles in my 30s. It was the sickest I've ever been.
You can get basically any medication or vaccination you want in the US as long as you can find a doctor to write the prescription. We even have anabolic steroids that were approved for muscle wasting in cancer patients, but if you can find a doctor willing to write the prescription and a pharmacy that won’t question it, anyone can have pharmacy grade Anavar for the gym, completely legal. In theory the doctor writing…
Is that not usually true in other countries?
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That seems like being penny wise and pound foolish.
Looks like the GP is in the UK. I tried to go private (also not 50), but everyone just refused. Pharmacy, GP, private GP. Currently I'm arranging it in the third country because WTAF. (UK becoming the dirtiest and sickest country of Europe one more time)
Big Yawn
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That seems like being penny wise and pound foolish.
Looks like the GP is in the UK. I tried to go private (also not 50), but everyone just refused. Pharmacy, GP, private GP. Currently I'm arranging it in the third country because WTAF. (UK becoming the dirtiest and sickest country of Europe one more time)
Of course I got shingles when I was 64. Caught early and got anti-virals and had no lasting effects.
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I read before that iirc because of waning protection it’s better not to get it too early. It’s not clear to me why you can’t get it twice, but what I read (and it was some online discussion so could be wrong) was that someone had been specifically told by their doctor to wait to 50 as the best spot to get it. I’d like to know more, I’m in my 40s and would be happy to get it now too but not if it was going to be worse…
But surely you can do a booster shot?