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> This statistic seems to be used by some people to avoid the vaccine The FDA itself restricted access to the vaccine on the basis of age. Given that virions a
by kevin_thibedeau 10mo ago
> This statistic seems to be used by some people to avoid the vaccine
The FDA itself restricted access to the vaccine on the basis of age. Given that virions aren't even involved in the production process, its safety should have been deemed good enough for the entire population early on.
- bboygravity 10mo agoThe reason it's not recommended for all ages is money. Not safety concerns. Same reason you can't get Shingrix under a certain age.
- lotsofpulp 10mo agoI would happily pay for Shingrix.
- anjel 10mo agoPrepare your happy for a very profit-laden high three-figure bill.
- lotsofpulp 10mo agoLuckily, I can afford $999 to avoid experiencing Shingles.
- CydeWeys 10mo agoYour average HN reader can absolutely afford paying a few hundred bucks to avoid getting a potentially life-changing disease, and should. I know multiple young adults who got messed up by shingles.
- happymellon 10mo agoYou can get it in the UK, unsubsidised from a profit driven private company, for a mid-three figure amount. https://www.boots.com/online/pharmacy-services/shingles-vaccination-service https://www.boots.com/online/pharmacy-services/shingles-vacc... > Price per dose:£230 > Full course (2 doses):£460
- loeg 10mo agoMedium 3-figure at most. $400-600 for the full two-dose series.
- prirun 10mo agoI think the main reason it isn't recommended for all ages is that it wears off. If you get it before 50, when your immune system starts declining, you might end up getting shingles when you're 60 or 70. Insurance companies used to only pay for the vaccine at 60. They've reduced it to 50 now because people (like me) were getting it in their 50's. I got it in my left eye and because my immune system is kinda shit, I still have it, though it doesn't give me too much grief now. But it did trash my cornea in that eye, so it's messed my vision up pretty good. And since there's still an active infection (after 8 years), I can't get a cornea transplant. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/two-dose-shingles-vaccine-is-still-highly-effective-after-four-years https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/two-dose-shin...
- jghn 10mo agoMy PCP actually recommended holding off until later in the 50s for this reason. There's not currently a booster so his suggestion was to play the odds & delay a bit in order to get longer protection in my elderly years.
- robocat 10mo agoYou are betting: (1) a booster won't be invented in next say 20 years and (2) you will live next 20 years (likely if you are healthy and have a healthy lifestyle)
- CydeWeys 10mo agoBeg for forgiveness, don't ask permission. I got Shingrix when I was under the age of 40, and at no cost to myself even, simply by scheduling a Shingrix vaccine at CVS. It wasn't until I went back for the booster shot months later that the nurse was like "Wait, aren't you too young for this?", but they nevertheless gave me the second dose to complete the vaccine course. You can just so things.
- loeg 10mo agoI was unable to get a first dose just by asking the pharmacy -- they were happy to enforce the arbitrary 50 year age rule. But my PCP was happy to just prescribe it off-label. Do it; shingles is terrible and there's no reason to suffer it under 50.
- refurb 10mo agoIf by “money” you mean “spending limited health dollars on treatments where the benefit justifies the amount spent” then you’d be correct.
- anderber 10mo agoThey also did it by gender in the US when I was in college. Boys could not get it. At the same time that Europe was vaccinating everyone.
- refurb 10mo agoThat’s not how drug approvals work. You don’t make assumptions about safety, you make decisions based on data. The original trials were for a specific population - no prior HPV infection, young women. Hence the approval was for that population. Additional trials have been run expanding the population, but the decision was based on data not “yeah, I’ll bet this is safe/works for this other group”