Sir, – A growing body of evidence suggests the shingles vaccination may lower the risk of dementia as well as stroke and heart attack, causing medical experts to call for the vaccines to be made free to older people.
Consultant geriatrician and stroke physician Prof Ronan Collins told the Oireachtas Committee on Health recently that programmes for child vaccination were the norm, but Ireland’s approach to adult vaccination had been less robust.
“Vaccination is an important pillar of healthcare to ensure healthy ageing and the prevention of cardiovascular disease, stroke and dementia,” he said. The meeting heard calls for the shingles recombinant vaccine to be made available free of charge to those over 65 years.
Emerging evidence from Stanford University in the US suggests that the shingles vaccine may prevent or delay dementia. Two separate reports in 2025, among large populations of older adults in Wales and in Australia, showed that people who had received the shingles vaccine were not only protected against shingles, but were also 20 per cent less likely to develop dementia than unvaccinated people in the subsequent seven years.
READ MORE
A follow-up study by the same researchers suggested that the vaccine may not only prevent dementia, but may also be therapeutic.
While the mechanism of action is still not clear, the shingles vaccine prevents reactivation of the dormant virus that is thought to contribute to brain inflammation and the build-up of proteins in the brain linked to dementia.
It is also possible that the vaccine provides a broader boost to the immune system, which counteracts the weakened immunity of older age.
Shingles vaccines are available in Ireland, but they are expensive. A two-dose course of Shingrix vaccine typically costs €480 to €490.
This expensive vaccine is not available on the adult immunisation schedule in Ireland, but the new evidence may change that. For now, what we can say is that the health benefits of the shingles vaccine have the potential to go way beyond protecting us against shingles. – Yours, etc,
DR CATHERINE CONLON,
Ballintemple,
Co Cork.
