Prevent Shingles with Zostavax

April 21, 2018 at 7:13 PM

We are very pleased that Zostavax has become funded for those aged 65-80years of age. Shingles is a painful, nasty skin rash of chickenpox blisters in a classic pattern on your body or face. The virus travels down a nerve and comes out where the nerve supplies. It can affect your eyes as well. The rash often lasts about 4weeks or so but after the rash has healed, some people are left with Post Herpetic Neuralgia (PHN). PHN is pain in the area affected by the rash for weeks, months or even years afterwards and is quite debilitating.

The vaccine is not 100% perfect in preventing shingles and the level of protection depends on your age and immune systems' ability to respond to the vaccine. However, it does seem that even if you do get shingles, the attack will be less severe and the possibility of PHN is reduced.

Please check out the IMAC website for more info- www.immune.org.nz