We call it chicken pox as a child but these poxes get worse when they appear in adult age as the named then changed to Shingles. Just like chicken pox, the virus starts as spots but then turned to a severe nerve pain and sometimes turns deadly as well. Shingles are common among the Americans and every 1 in 3 have this virus.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, a famous playwright also had this virus and initially, he thought that he had a migraine problem. For this, he was separated from his 2-month-old son. While commenting on this virus, Vanderbilt University Medical Center disease specialist Dr. William Schaffner said that we should not take this virus lightly and this is a disease which needs immediate prevention.
The specialist further said that even the spots disappear in a week, but the nerve pain persists even for months and makes the life miserable for the sufferer. The nerve pain caused by Shingles is so frequent that it disturbs your eating and sleeping and people even went to depression.
But nowadays, the virus can be cured with the vaccination and people aged above 50 were asked to take Zostavax to remove Shingles. But later it was discovered that Zostavax was only two-thirds effective in curing the disease and also 7 years after the protection was also gone.
But thanks to the medical experts, a new vaccine named “Shingrix” was discovered in January and later approved by FDA. After FDA’s approval, the Centers for Disease Control recommended Shingrix for people aged above 50.
While commenting on the new vaccine, Dr. Schaffner said that Shingrix is much more effective than Zostavax and is suitable for nerve pain caused by shingles. He further said that they have studied the protection of Shingrix and the protection period for this new vaccine is 9 years or maybe more.
While commenting on this new Shingles vaccine, an ER physician Dr. Travis Stork said that even if a person got the virus after using this vaccine, it will predominantly decrease the severity of the disease.
Travis said so while giving an interview to PEOPLE. But the vaccination does have one downfall – Shingrix shot is very painful as compared to the previous vaccine and doctors fear that people aged above 50 will skip the vaccination just for the sake of their arms. Dr. Schaffner further said that Shingrix is more painful and patients take this twice with one-month separation. Many people got sore arms after getting the first shot and said that they won’t be coming back for the second dose, the specialist further added.
The disease specialist further said doctors should aware the patients in advance about the pain the vaccine will cause but also said that the vaccine is not painful for some of the patients. He said that the doctors must make sure that people come back for the second dose to get the full protection against Shingles.
While giving an interview to PEOPLE, medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Kathleen Dooling said that prior to the vaccination shot people should know that they are going to suffer from pain in the area where they will get vaccine shot. But according to Dr. Schaffner, the pain is worth bearing for the results the vaccine is giving and especially for the people above 80.
He further said that pain caused by the vaccine is temporary but the Shingles are much worse than that. If a person can bear the nerve pain caused by Shingles then he can also bear the shot pain caused by Shingrix, said Schaffner.
If shingles are appearing on your face, it becomes more painful. And in such cases, nerve pain persists even for months, the disease specialist further added. The nerve pain makes the patient weak as well. In the end, he said that to get 90% protection against shingles for bearing sore arm pain is a win-win situation for the patient.