People over 50 are 15% more likely to get shingles within 6 months of a covid infection.

[femmedem]

"More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, we are still learning of all the possible long-term complications of infection.

Adults ages 50 and older infected with COVID-19 are 15 percent more likely to develop shingles within six months of the diagnosis compared to people who weren’t infected, according to a 2022 study published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases. That likelihood increases to 21 percent among older people who had been hospitalized due to COVID."

https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/en/HealthU/2022/07/28/What-to-Know-About-COVID-19-and-Shingles#.Y8KzGP7MKUc

If you are fifty or older, get your shingles shot. I got my first one when I got a covid booster. I had a stronger reaction than I'd had solely with covid vaccines, so you might want to get it when you don't have responsibilities the next day. But everyone I know who's had shingles was utterly miserable.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. I had both Shinhles shots in 2018

Before we left for Australia.

Good here.

[Haggard Celine]

2. Shingles is awful!

I had a really bad case back when I was in college. Back then they didn't have all the antivirals they have now, so all they could do is treat the symptoms. It was extremely painful and terribly ugly. I had scars from it for years!

[MissMillie]

8. yep, treated the symptoms.... I was doped up (pain meds) for 2 weeks

back in the 70s

[Luciferous]

3. I am under 50, but got shingles 10 days after my

first Covid vaccine

[femmedem]

10. It appears that reactivation of shingles is a rare side effect of vaccines (not just covid vaccines)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35470920/

But the data is inconsistent: https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/study-primary-covid-19-vaccines-found-to-not-increase-risk-of-herpes-zoster

[Luciferous]

14. Yeah my doctor said sometimes vaccines

lower your immune system just enough to reactivate the virus. She originally diagnosed me with something else because she thought I was too young for shingles and I didn't have a rash when I first went in.

[Ferrets are Cool]

4. While it's expensive, I am very glad I got mine.

[Ms. Toad]

13. I'm getting mine soon.

Now that the vaccine is 100% covered by Medicare. They were quite pricey before 2023.

[forthemiddle]

5. My daughter got shingles less than a month after Covid

She was only 28 at the time.
She then got a second case of shingles 2 weeks after her Covid vaccination.

[femmedem]

9. Wow.

Poor woman. It does sound as if Covid weakened her immune system.

[Luciferous]

15. I got shingles on the same arm as my first Covid

shot so they told me to make sure I got the second one in my other arm just in case.

[milestogo]

6. I got shingles a few weeks after getting my cast off for a broken ankle.

It sucks.

[MissMillie]

7. in the top 3 most painful things I've ever experienced

behind kidney stone and childbirth

And it feels like they go on forever; it takies weeks for them to go away.

My shingles infection was extremely outside the norm. I had them when I was 13.

Get your shingles shot!!! And encourage your kids to get their kids vaccinated against chicken pox.

[Ms. Toad]

11. My spouse got shingles

For the 4th time within 6 months of COVID.

She had the early variation of the shingles vaccine, after her first but years ago. She's going to check and see if she can get the two- dose version now.

[femmedem]

18. I hope she can. The Shingrix vaccines are so much more effective! n/t

[ananda]

12. You need two shingles shots for the effective vaccine.

I got mine a few years ago.

And I've had five Moderna shots.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

16. Aren't shingles from chicken pox?

I never had chicken pox? Do I still need the vaccine?

[femmedem]

17. Nope. You can only get shingles if you've had chicken pox. n/t

[Grumpy Old Guy]

19. Thanks! That's what I thought.

I had the mumps, but never had measles or chicken pox.