shingles

Varicella vaccine — 25 years of success against chickenpox

The varicella vaccine has had over 25 years of success in preventing chickenpox, a disease that killed 145 children per year pre-vaccine.

Large study finds no link between COVID vaccine and shingles

I didn’t know it was a thing, but I guess some people claimed that there was a link between a COVID-19 vaccine and shingles. But in the name of science, researchers published a study that refuted the link between the COVID-19 vaccine and shingles.

I’m glad it’s not linked, even though I never thought it was. So, as I always do, let’s review the study and see what it says.

Chickenpox nearly eliminated in USA because of the vaccine

We know that vaccines work, but it’s good to have data such as chickenpox has been almost eliminated in the USA because of the chickenpox vaccine. We should be dancing in the streets because of this.

Let’s take a look at this new data, but first, we need to talk about chickenpox and the vaccine. Just to make sure everyone is up-to-speed with accurate information.

Herpes zoster vaccine and dementia — is there a surprising link?

by Michael Simpson
2022-06-14
Infectious disease, Neurological, Shingles vaccine

I generally wouldn’t write about herpes zoster and dementia, which recently appeared in a peer-reviewed article. Such a topic is mostly outside of my interest area. Then a thought hit my reptilian brain — anti-vaxxers might use this information to claim that the shingles vaccine, which prevents herpes zoster (the more formal name for shingles), might increase the risk of dementia.

So, this article is here just in case you run into that pathetic argument. In no way would I advocate not getting the shingles vaccine because of its supposed relationship with dementia.

Let’s take a look at this new article and how we should look at whether the herpes zoster vaccine and dementia might be related.

Monkeypox myths — debunking anti-vaccine claims about the virus

by Michael Simpson
2022-05-29
AstraZeneca, COVID-19 vaccine, Del Bigtree, Vaccines

Within nanoseconds of monkeypox hitting the news, the anti-vaccine activists were pushing myths in force employing their unique brand of conspiracy theories and bad science. Like they did with COVID-19 vaccines, the anti-vaxxers have jumped on monkeypox with all kinds of crackpot ideas and myths that deserve debunking.

As is my policy, I’m not going to point you to any of the crazy websites with these monkeypox myths — I’m not going to send them any traffic. I’m sure I’m missing some good ones, but here’s what I’ve seen.

Increased risk of shingles after COVID-19 — time to get both vaccines

by Michael Simpson
2022-05-03
COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Moderna, Pfizer, Shingles vaccine

A newly published and peer-reviewed study provides evidence that the risk of shingles (herpes zoster) increases after a COVID-19 infection. This supports numerous case reports that have been published that describe shingles in COVID-19 patients.

This post will examine the article. And this should provide you with more evidence that the COVID-19 and shingles vaccines are important to your health.

Vaccine safety – a huge systematic review says they don’t cause autism

by Michael Simpson
2021-06-23
Autism, Diabetes, Flu vaccine, HPV vaccine, Vaccines

Not that most of us need to be convinced, but there’s another huge systematic review that examined vaccine safety. Unsurprisingly, it shows that there are no major safety signals post-vaccination, plus no vaccine is linked to autism.

It’s ironic that this study is a high-quality systematic review and meta-analysis, the top of the hierarchy of biomedical research, while anti-vaxxers rely upon retracted articles published in predatory journals.

So, I want to do a quick review of this new article so that we can continue to support the settled science of vaccine safety.

MSG in vaccines – is it another evil chemical causing harm or not?

There are so many random claims from the anti-vaccine activists about evil chemicals in your child’s vaccines. Aluminum in vaccines is dangerous? No. Mercury in vaccines? No. Formaldehyde in vaccines is killing our kids? Nope. And of course, MSG in vaccines is causing something.

Of course, many of you have heard about MSG in our food. It’s up there on the evil food chemical list along with aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, GMO‘s, and whatever else is the food danger of the day. But MSG certainly has been on the top of the “avoid” list for decades.

I’ve been refuting nonsense about chemicals for at least 25 years on the internet (back before we had social media, yeah I’m an old dinosaur). From my perspective, I think that 50% of the issues with “chemicals” is their long complex names. And the other 50% is because of the appeal to nature logical fallacy, which is the argument that natural substances are somehow superior to “chemicals.”

Ironically, everything in nature is a chemical, and unless you think everything in the universe is designed for human health (ridiculous), a “natural” chemical is not even close to being superior to a “man-made” chemical.

But let’s get back to MSG – how many times have you seen “No MSG” in a sign Chinese restaurant? So if we don’t want to put MSG in our kung pao chicken, then why would we want MSG in vaccines?

What we’re going to show in this article is that MSG dangers are a myth. And the dangers of MSG in vaccines is a bigger myth.

Chickenpox and shingles – same virus, different vaccines

There are a lot of nuanced facts and evidence about vaccines. The so-called “pro-vaccine” crowd looks at the body of evidence, then concludes that it saves children’s lives by stopping vaccine-preventable diseases. The “anti-vaccine” side seems to rely on anecdotes, cherry picking bad studies published in really bad journals, and read anti-science websites, just to support their preconceived conclusions. And now there is a lot of junk science with respect to chickenpox and shingles, much of which we need to refute and debunk.

One of the enduring myths of the antivaccine cult is that chickenpox vaccine will increase the rate of shingles, especially in older adults. A published article examines chickenpox and shingles vaccines – and like everything in science, it’s the nuanced data that makes the story. Not the headlines.

Shingles increase heart attacks – time for the vaccine

Shingles, a reactivated form of the chickenpox virus, is a painful rash that afflicts many people decades after the initial chickenpox infection. Now, we have data that shingles increase heart attacks (myocardial infarction) and strokes. This is more evidence that we need to end chickenpox with the chickenpox vaccine, and reduce the risk of shingles in those who have had chickenpox with the shingles vaccine.

Let’s take a look at shingles and this new study.Read More »Shingles increase heart attacks – time for the vaccine