Chook Me!

If a retiree did not have chicken pox in childhood, is there any reason to take the new Shingles vaccine?

I don't remember having chicken pox, and both parents and my elder sibling are deceased, so there is no one I can ask to verify whether I did or didn't have chicken pox in early childhood. I have been unable to find any documentation concerning this in my files.

Public Comments

1. if you are a retiree, I'm assuming you're over 60, in which case you should've been exposed to the chicken pox at some point in your life. if you never had the chicken pox and you come in contact with someone with shingles, you will not get the shingles, but the chicken pox. the drug company says it will not hurt anyone over 60 to have the shingles vaccine although the CDC says it's not necessary...so it's really your choice, I have had the same situation arise at work and I had to call both the manufacture and the CDC, needless to say the gentleman did not get the vaccine
2. in order to get shingles you need to have had chicken pox before. Shingles is a reactivation of the chicken pox virus in your body. It causes you to a localized rash ( not on the whole body just in one spot) and it is usually preceded by pain or itching. You can be tested to see if you have had chicken pox before. The only thing is if you have never had chicken pox as a kid and you get it as an adult, it is much worse than when a kid gets it.
3. In answer to your initial question, no, there's no reason to have the Zostavax vaccine. But since you go on to say that in reality you don't know if you had chicken pox or not, you can have blood titers drawn to measure for varicella zoster virus antibodies. Varicella zoster is the virus that causes chicken pox. If you don't have any antibodies or if yours are insufficient for active immunity, you'd be better off getting a chicken pox vaccine. Speak to your doctor about this and follow your doctor's advice.