Question: I am 67 and my doctor advised me to get a shingles vaccination. Is it effective, are there any side effects, and is mercury used as a preservative?

Dr. Hibberd's Answer:
Shingles vaccination (trade name is Zostavax) is effective and well worth getting to avoid the significant pain and discomfort severe shingles delivers to its victims. Zostavax is a live vaccine that contains no preservative and contains trace quantities of neomycin. Side effects are rare. Even local irritation is unusual.
This vaccine is highly effective and is recommended for patients over 60 years of age with no allergies to any of the vaccine’s ingredients, are not on chemotherapy, and whose immune systems aren’t suppressed.
If you wait until shingles becomes evident, it is too late to vaccinate for any benefit, in contrast to other vaccines such as the Hepatitis B vaccine that starts to confer benefit very soon after vaccination. There is no mercury in the shingles vaccine.