Why is No One Interested in the Vaccine for the

Why is No One Interested in the Vaccine for the Shingles Disease

There is good news about for people who fear they might come down to the shingles disease. It's not just that there is a vaccine for it (it's been around for a while), it's that the vaccine is far more effective than scientists had first imagined it could be. If you are over 60 and with a normal immune system, you are the perfect candidate for it.

It's a pretty spectacular vaccine. In the clinical tests that scientists conducted leading up to the approval of the vaccine, they found that in elderly people who received the vaccine (some 75,000 people over 60), shingles appeared only half as often as in people who didn't receive the vaccine.

The shingles disease used to go by the scary name of herpes zoster. It is a viral disease that the chickenpox virus causes. Children who get chickenpox and get over it, still carry the virus in their bodies. Typically, the herpes zoster virus lies dormant in your nervous system for years and years. For some reason, sometimes, (it could be that you're old and weak and your immune system is somewhat down), it comes out of hibernation all of a sudden when you are 50 or 60 or so and causes not chickenpox, but a kind of very painful rash. Sometimes, the skin breaks out in large tender-looking blisters. It can be terribly painful and the pain can last long after the shingles disease outbreak itself goes away.

About one in three Americans faces a shingles infection at some point. That's quite a market for the vaccine. It could prevent tens of thousands of cases of suffering every year. Elderly people go in to get shots for the flu or pneumonia; most people do. When it comes to a vaccine for the shingles disease however, barely one in ten does.

The reason that most seniors ignore the vaccine could be that it's quite new. It has been around for all of five years. The company that makes it, Merck, seems to constantly run out of supplies. For months at a time. Patients who come in asking for it are often turned away. For some reason, Merck isn't really advertising it; and the CDC doesn't advertise it either. No one really knows about it. And of course, not a small matter, a shot costs about $200. Often enough, you have to pay for it yourself. Medicare does cover it, but only through Part D. Elderly people still have to pay for it and wait to be reimbursed. It's about time that the government and private enterprise came together to promote this vaccine better.

You have read the best review article categorized by best tips and the title Why is No One Interested in the Vaccine for the. You can bookmark or spread this post by using this URL https://besttipsto.blogspot.com/2012/09/why-is-no-one-interested-in-vaccine-for.html. Thank You!