Sen. Feinstein has Shingles. I'm Vaxxed.
It's been in the news this week that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is out sick with shingles. Shingles is a form of the chickenpox virus (varicella zoster) that reappears typically in later adulthood in people who've already had chickenpox. About 1 in 3 adults get it. While some cases are mild, with skin itching that lasts a few days, at least 1 in 10 cases are fairly severe, with intense itching that last weeks and the possibility of permanent damage.
How do I know so much about shingles? I read about it when I got my first vaccination against it a year ago. There's nicely lucid information on the CDC's shingles page. Among other things, the vaccine is up to 90% effective. So that 1-in-3 adults get it thing tells me that most adults aren't vaccinated. I'm glad I am, because I remember chickenpox being especially miserable for the few weeks I suffered it in my young teens. And shingles has the possibility of being way worse.
BTW the shingles vaccine is a two shot regimen. I got my initial shot a year ago and my followup shot last month. It's recommended to get the followup 2-6 months after the initial. I went 12 months because I procrastinated asking for the second shot. It turned out it was easy to get; my doctor's small clinic had shots on hand, and a nurse administered it during an appointment to discuss something else.
I had a swelling reaction with the followup shot. A spot on my arm around the injection site raised a lump that was slightly sore to the touch. It was smaller and less sore than the reaction to the initial shot. It also went away faster.
Some people point to the reactions to immunization shots as reason not to get them. Aside from a very small number of people with severe reactions to vaccines that's terrible reasoning. I'd rather have 20 of these shots and the reactions to them than even one mild case of shingles.
Related: Sen. Feinstein's illness continued for many weeks, causing her to miss months of work, and prompting renewed calls from members of her own party to step aside.
How do I know so much about shingles? I read about it when I got my first vaccination against it a year ago. There's nicely lucid information on the CDC's shingles page. Among other things, the vaccine is up to 90% effective. So that 1-in-3 adults get it thing tells me that most adults aren't vaccinated. I'm glad I am, because I remember chickenpox being especially miserable for the few weeks I suffered it in my young teens. And shingles has the possibility of being way worse.
BTW the shingles vaccine is a two shot regimen. I got my initial shot a year ago and my followup shot last month. It's recommended to get the followup 2-6 months after the initial. I went 12 months because I procrastinated asking for the second shot. It turned out it was easy to get; my doctor's small clinic had shots on hand, and a nurse administered it during an appointment to discuss something else.
I had a swelling reaction with the followup shot. A spot on my arm around the injection site raised a lump that was slightly sore to the touch. It was smaller and less sore than the reaction to the initial shot. It also went away faster.
Some people point to the reactions to immunization shots as reason not to get them. Aside from a very small number of people with severe reactions to vaccines that's terrible reasoning. I'd rather have 20 of these shots and the reactions to them than even one mild case of shingles.
Related: Sen. Feinstein's illness continued for many weeks, causing her to miss months of work, and prompting renewed calls from members of her own party to step aside.