Why You Should Get the New Shingles Vaccine
'I love my local YMCA for many reasons beyond my daily swim. Top of the list: the friendships and conversations in the locker room that are frequent sources of valuable information, connections and motivation. For example, I recently overheard a discussion about Y members and friends of members who had experienced devastating attacks of shingles, including one woman who nearly lost an eye and another who was left with unrelenting nerve pain.
That was the push I needed to end my procrastination about getting the new shingles vaccine, Shingrix, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last October after studies involving 16,600 people showed it to be far more effective at preventing this disease than the first shingles vaccine, Zostavax, which I had had a decade earlier. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people 50 and older, including those previously immunized with Zostavax, should now get the Shingrix vaccine.
The process was surprisingly simple and less costly than I had anticipated (list price is $280 for the two-part shot without insurance). All I needed was a prescription from my doctor. I took it to my local pharmacy, where a staff pharmacist administered the vaccine. I’ll get the second part the same way in May. My Medicare Part D insurance covered it with a $40 co-pay for each part. (The cost may be higher if the vaccine is administered in a doctor’s office, so check first.)
Many millions of Americans, especially those older than 40, are susceptible to an eventual attack of shingles, caused by the very same virus that causes chickenpox. Once this virus, varicella zoster, infects a person, it lies dormant for decades in nerve roots, ready to pounce when the immune system is weakened, say, by stress, medication, trauma or disease. One-third of Americans eventually get shingles, but the risk rises with age, and by age 85 half of adults will have had at least one outbreak of shingles.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/well/why-you-should-get-the-new-shingles-vaccine.html?
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I got the shingles shot several years ago.
Not sure which one it was though, so thanks for the heads-up!!! 
Last edited Wed Apr 11, 2018, 03:01 PM - Edit history (1)
will be x100 if you get the shingles. He also says that there's not a 100% chance that you'll ever have shingles, but if you do there's a 100% chance you'll be miserable. I watched my 40-year-old daughter suffer with it about 3 years ago and she still has pain from it. Don't worry about a few days of arm pain elleng. 
I still haven't discussed the matter with my GP; will likely do so if/when I try for a refill of something and he/his group says they have to see me.
Been thinking I might ask if I could get the OLD one instead, as a follow up shot will be a 'pain,' only because I've moved so am over 100 miles away from their office now.
BUT glad you wrote, as a prod.
You don't want it. Trust me.
And it did NOT hurt and burn like the first one did!! Nice surprise, since the first one in April felt like a Wasp sting. TBH, I wonder if the first shot was was too close to a nerve or something. It was just below the shoulder bone, which was a bit odd. This one was in the 'meaty' part of the upper arm, where you'd customarily expect a shot to be given.
Who knows, maybe the first one burns and the second one doesn't? In any case, I just thought I'd pop back in here and let everyone know that the follow-up shot was a piece of cake.
(m-m-m-m, cake!!!) 
BTW... both shots were paid for by Medicare. 
and glad paid by medicare!
My doc 'ordered' pharmacy to obtain the stuff, so I'm waiting to hear from them, 'couple months!' Surprised it takes so long!
A friend is now enduring his SECOND bout of shingles. 
and was told there was only a limited supply, so it's probably universal. Sorry to hear about your friend . My oldest son got it at 36, on a Hawaiian vacation, of all places. He was miserable.
Last edited Sun Feb 10, 2019, 11:43 AM - Edit history (1)
after the first in August; awaiting 'effects!'
NO 'effects,' but for slight discomfort trying to sleep on left arm (which I usually do.) Should be over tonight.