Post-vaccine shingles: Japanese news looks at a hard-to-hide side effect

Japanese TV recently broadcast a segment on rising cases of herpes zoster (aka, shingles). [Full segment and transcription here]

Is stress from the Covid-19 Pandemic the cause of rising cases of shingles? Expert interviewed  

Dr Atsushi Otsuka of Kindai University says his personal impression is that shingles cases have increased by 1.5 to 2 times since spring/summer last year. And why would that be, Doc?

One possible reason is stress from the pandemic.  Herpes viruses can remain latent in the body after childhood chicken pox and can reactive due to immune suppression from stress, aging, and fatigue.

Er, so why didn’t cases start rising in 2020 then? Was there anything that happened in 2021 that could suppress the immune system?

“There have been cases of people developing shingles after Covid vaccination.”

Oh really! A review of the medical literature on this topic up to August 2021 found 399 reported cases of shingles after Covid vaccination, so this is hardly new news. But go on.

The segment then reports the case of a man in his 30s who developed shingles after his 2nd vaccine. He had to take a week off work because it hurt when he breathed. It also left him with scars.

So what’s the relationship between the shots and shingles?

Dr Otsuka says the scientific evidence hasn’t been fully clarified (where have I heard that before?) but says there are studies suggesting that 10% of people experience reactivation of herpes viruses after Covid vaccination.

But what’s the actual number that develop symptoms? A survey of booster side-effects carried out by the Israeli Ministry of Health suggests 1464 cases per 1 million does.

There’s treatment for shingles. Comparing it to the post-infection risk of Covid-19, getting vaccinated is more important. 

I wasn’t aware that the Covid vaccines stopped infection.

And speaking of shingles and vaccines, guess who’s developing a shingles vaccine. 

[https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-biontech-jointly-develop-shingles-vaccine-2022-01-05/]

So successful, it increased demand for other vaccines. The laws of supply, demand, and supply in action!