By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
Adults in primary care offices are pressured into taking a growing panel of vaccines including influenza, RSV, pneumococcal, and shingles vaccines.
Zerbo et al performed a retrospective cohort study that used data from 4 health plans in the Vaccine Safety Datalink from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2022, and included adults aged 50 years or older. Only 28.8% were fully vaccinated for shingles. Keep in mind this non-randomized study design overestimates vaccine efficacy due to a variety of biases. The overall rate of shingles was low at 2.3% over 4 years or .58% per year.
The VE (vaccine efficacy) for full vaccination was 80% (95% CI, 73%-85%) during the first year, 77% (95% CI, 67%-84%) during the second year, and 74% (63%-82%) after the second year.
