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gebhard long's avatar

Based on your side comment that there’s a drop of shingles, but the effect is small. I see no reason to get a Shingrex vaccine

Cailin Nelson's avatar

Is the overall decrease in dementia risk simply a feature of increasing life expectancy? E.g. is there truly less dementia - or are people just being diagnosed with dementia even later in life? Is there a real decrease in the likelihood a person will ever be diagnosed with dementia before they die?

Sheila Crook-Lockwood's avatar

I agree: "b" annoys me way more than "a" because the group in should know better. I have very low tolerance for group "b" when they cheerlead a topic simply because it coincides with their personal worldview.

Liese Smith's avatar

Vinay, can you do a similar analysis for the BCG vaccine and Alzheimer's / Parkinson's, please? Look at the papers from Israel... I believe that for BCG, the effect is real..!! Even if not for the shingles vaccine.

gebhard long's avatar

my comment below has received 20 likes so I feel compelled to now say after looking at Cochrane and spending time on the main trial for efficacy and safety I have come to a slightly different conclusion on getting Shingrex to prevent shingles....I think it is a tossup....the side effects are predictable most people have some, most common is 2 days of mild to moderate flu like symptoms , I am extrapolating here but I guess that unvaccinated average health person has a 50% chance of getting shingles in the next 12 years. vaccination reduces to less than 10%, the big uncertainty is that the trial did not go out that far......shingles does not sound as pleasant as moderate flulike symsumptoms for 2 days. I di confirm that in th study you needed 2 outcomes to "have " shingles. you needed a positive on your blister fluids and you had to have significant lesions....of course the trial was open label. I am still on the fence