A growing body of research suggests Shingrix can delay dementia and reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. Biohackers are turning to the shingles vaccine to ward off heart issues and delay dementia, but doctors want to see clinical evidence from rigorous medical studies before making the case to their patients. A new study, published last month in Nature Medicine, found that GSK’s GSK Shingrix lessened the risk of ischemic heart disease by 10% over seven years and heart failure by 12% in Americans who were at least 60 years old, when compared with people who received an older shingles vaccine that’s no longer available in the U.S.
The study, led by the University of Oxford, is one of several observational studies that have found wide-ranging health benefits associated with the vaccine beyond preventing shingles, a painful blistering skin infection caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. Another study, conducted by some of the same University of Oxford researchers and published in 2024, found Shingrix could delay dementia diagnoses by about six months. (One of the researchers is a consultant for GSK, but the drugmaker was not involved in the heart disease or dementia studies.) Other research found the older vaccine may slow the biological aging process and**reduce**all-cause mortality. AstraZeneca's CFO on GLP-1 Drugs, AI, and More Play video: AstraZeneca's CFO on GLP-1 Drugs, AI, and More These studies are fueling the idea that Shingrix is a wonder vaccine.
It’s popular among longevity influencers like Bryan Johnson, who said this year that he was getting the shingles vaccine for its potential longevity benefits, and David Sinclair, a researcher who declared the vaccine is associated “with better health and longevity long-term.” Don’t Short Yourself offers weekly money tips to help you earn it, stack it and grow it. I would like to receive updates and special offers from Dow Jones and affiliates. I can unsubscribe at any time.
But doctors are skeptical, saying stronger evidence is needed, ideally from randomized and placebo-controlled clinical trials, to make the case that the purported benefits are real. During an earnings call in July, GSK revealed that it plans to run a Phase 3 trial evaluating whether Shingrix can reduce the risk of major adverse cardiac events in 16,000 adults who have or are at risk for heart disease. But patients and doctors will have to wait several years until there’s data to share from that study.
You cannot say any of those three statements,” said David Nace, chief of geriatric medicine at the UPMC hospital system in Pittsburgh. By 2020, Merck had discontinued Zostavax, a live attenuated virus vaccine that was approved in 2006. The U.S. currently recommends both doses of Shingrix, now the only shingles vaccine available in the U.S., for all adults who are at least 50 years old, and for those at least 18 years old who have an immunodeficiency or are taking an immunosuppressant.
Even as the research has accumulated, that hasn’t translated to more people receiving the vaccine. Only about 24% of Americans who should get the vaccine have had both doses, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey in 2023. It’s unclear why uptake is so low, although physicians say the shingles vaccine is less of a priority for older adults than the shots for COVID-19, pneumonia or the flu, all of which are more deadly than shingles.
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