Can Shingles Be Prevented?

Alexea Gaffney-Adams, M.D., an infectious disease specialist at Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook, New York shares how the shingles vaccine significantly decreases your chances of getting infected.

Shingles can be prevented. One of the ways we can prevent shingles outbreaks from occurring is to vaccinate someone for shingles. The reason we vaccinate people for shingles is because, again, as we age or when we experience other illnesses or if we get put on other medications that suppress our immune system, we are more likely to get a shingles outbreak. We can absolutely decrease a shingles outbreak occurrence, as well as decrease the chronic pain syndrome associated with shingles outbreaks by vaccinating individuals.