The shingles vaccine Shingrix (RZV) can roughly cut by more than 90%your chances of getting shingles, a painful skin rash caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. It is prefered over Zostavax, an earlier vaccine, which is about 50% effective in peopl 60 years or older.
If you’ve already had shingles, either vaccine may help stop it from coming back.
They contain a weakened chickenpox virus, which doctors call the varicella-zoster virus. It primes your immune system to defend against the disease.
Shingrix is also more than 90% effective in reducing the chance of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) which can be very painful and can last weeks, months, or even years after the rash goes away. Zostavax is about 67% effective in reducing the chance of PHN.