New Shingles Vaccine – Is It Right for You?

What is Shingles?
As a child, odds are you had chicken pox – a viral infection with acute, but short-lived, side effects caused by the varicella zoster virus.

Once chicken pox resolved itself, the symptoms disappeared, but the virus stayed dormant in your system. This virus can come back years later to cause shingles (a.k.a. zona, or herpes zoster) – a severe and painful rash with blisters that is limited to an area on one side of the body; often presenting itself in the form of a stripe.

Shingles is a painful condition which can last for 2 to 4 weeks before resolving itself, but for more than half of shingles sufferers over the age of 60, shingles can progress into post-herpetic neuralgia, which may cause residual nerve pain that may last for months or even years.

New Shingles Vaccination
Merck Frosst has developed a new vaccine called Zostavax which has been shown to reduce the incidence of shingles in individuals over 60 years of age by 51 per cent.

Additionally, for those who are vaccinated and develop shingles later on, Zostavax reduces the incidence of severe and long-lasting zoster-associated pain by 73 per cent compared with those who do not get vaccinated.

Who Should Get the Shingles Vaccine?
Men and women over 60 years of age who have had chicken pox in the past.

Zostavax is not covered by Medicare.

Availability
Zostavax is available in all of the following Medisys Travel Health and Vaccination Clinics:

Montreal Shingles Vaccine
500 Sherbrooke Street West, 11th Floor
Montreal, Quebec H3A 3C6
Appointments: 514-499-2772
Email your appointment request

Quebec City Shingles Vaccine
3175, chemin des Quatre-Bourgeois, Suite 380
Québec, Québec G1W 2K7
Appointments: 418 681-0167
Email your appointment request

Toronto Shingles Vaccine
123 Edward Street, Suite 505
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1E2
Appointments: 416-730-5700
Email your appointment request

95 St. Clair Avenue West, 12th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M4V 1N6
Appointments: 416-926-2698
Email your appointment request

Guelph Shingles Vaccine
83 Dawson Road, Suite 101
Guelph, Ontario N1H 1B1
Appointments: 519-840-0106
Email your appointment request

Ottawa Shingles Vaccine
1545 Carling Ave, Suite 210
Ottawa, Ontario K1Z 8P9
Appointments: 613-521-8313
Email your appointment request

Calgary Shingles Vaccine
321 6th Ave SW - Suite 960
Calgary, Alberta T2P 3H3
Appointments: 403-232-6244
Email your appointment request

Vancouver Shingles Vaccine
1090 West Pender, 11th Floor
Vancouver, British Columbia V6E 2N7
Appointments: 604-681-2400
Email your appointment request