Shingles vaccine

[guineapigharriet]

I'm booked to have a Shingles jab shortly. Has anyone had this while on Prednisolone? Were you okay? Any side effects.

[Thezillionthsue]

Yes I had the shingles vaccine recently.

I had a sore arm for a couple of days and felt a bit unwell for one day (which may have been coincidence) but otherwise I was fine.

But I'm only on 4mg Pred a day.

[piglette]

If you are having a shingles vaccine you should ensure that you do NOT have the live vaccine. It is not a good idea with steroids. There is now a new non live vaccine available.

[HeronNS]

Have you had both of your covid vaccinations, course completed at least four weeks ago?

[Bcol]

The vaccine used in UK is Zostavax and is not recommended for those of us on steroids as it contains a live vaccine.

[benhemp]

I got the two Shingrix shots two months apart. I had severe chills and felt ill the night of each shot, and a nasty sore arm for about three days both times. The Shingrix shot is 90% effective as opposed to the Zostavax shot that was only rated as 50% effective, but it is known for many folks having a somewhat bad reaction to it for a few days. But some lucky ones don't . . .

[dancersize2]

I am eligible for the free shingles vacc here in Oz but have waited because I am on Methotextrate as well as pred. Pred down to 1/2 but now booked for first covid so maybe I'll try shingles vacc next year. Be very interested to hear about your experience with it.

[Manihiki]

Not recommended here because it is a living vaccine

[PMRpro Ambassador]

If you look at the list of Related Posts you will find links to much of the previous discussion on that.I assume you are in the UK since you say prednisolone. In the UK only the Zostavax vaccine is available on the NHS, it is a live vaccine which isn't ideal when on higher doses of pred. One of its listed adverse effects is PMR - and another is shingles.

These are links to the articles I wrote some time ago:

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

[USAGCA]

I had my shingles vaccine while on high dose prednisone (50mg). I have since read that on those high doses of prednisone, some vaccines are not effective.

[Alebeau]

I had it while on 12 mg prednisone and it made me feverish and crappy for 2 days but ok after that. The second shot I was ok.71 at the time. I have no other health isuues - just PMR. Good luck.

[195094]

I took the vaccine w/o any major side affects; sore arm, maybe.

[jarn]

Yes, you have several responses but you must NOT have the Zostavax (live vax); SHINGRIX is the new one and you need 2doses, up to 6mos apart. I had it done in December with NO side effects at all. My rheumy endorsed this new vax. So good luck. We had to pay to have it done and live in Canada. So good luck.