Recombinant Shingles Vaccine May Lower Cardiovascular Risk

Several large observational studies have found that the shingles vaccine may lower rates of cardiovascular disease. However, such studies are susceptible to healthy vaccinee bias. To reduce that bias, researchers in this study compared outcomes among people vaccinated against shingles from April through September 2018, after the more effective recombinant vaccine became available, with those vaccinated during the same months in 2017, when the live vaccine was predominant. Each group included 36,460 people aged 60 or older. Researchers matched participants using propensity-score techniques and followed them for up to 7 years.