The British Medical Journal published a comparative study of shingles vaccines. In France, Zostavax is used from the age of 65. The study compares it to a vaccine recently authorized in Europe, the Shingrix, a recombinant adjuvant vaccine, apparently more effective and prescribed from the age of 50, but with more side effects.
What is shingles?
Shingles is a common infectious disease in older people due to the reactivation of the chickenpox virus, which occurs when the immune system weakens. The virus can remain latent in the body, in particular in the nerve ganglia and be reactivated, it multiplies and travels, depending on the affected nerve, along the nerve fibers to the skin or the mucous membranes. It is estimated that one in four French people will develop shingles during their lifetime, and that one in two French people aged 80 or over has already developed shingles. It is very painful, and manifests as a vesicular rash.
The pain can last for months. Without complication shingles lasts about 3 to 4 weeks. But the pains can persist beyond, for about 3 months or even become chronic, we then call these pains post-herpetic neuralgia. Depending on its position, shingles can cause complications in other parts of the body, for example in the eyes.
Zostavax versus Shingrix: which vaccine to choose?
But there has been a vaccine in France since June 2015, Zostavax. It is made up of an attenuated viral strain of the varicella zoster virus that stimulates the immune system to fight directly against the virus. It is very effective and consists of a single injection after 65 years. It reduces the risk of developing shingles by 51%, the most severe forms of shingles by 73% and the pain after shingles by 67%.
The British Medical Journal study compares Zostavax to a new vaccine recently authorized in Europe: Shingrix. It was carried out on 2,044,504 patients. It is a subunit recombinant adjuvant vaccine. It can be offered from the age of 50. The study found that it was more effective but caused an average of 30% more side effects, including redness, swelling from the injection and pain.
This comparative study will allow doctors to decide which vaccine to prescribe against shingles. Having in hand the efficacy data and the risk of comparative side effects between Zostavax and Shingrix.
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