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October is shaping up to be a momentous month for GlaxoSmithKline’s new shingles vaccine, Shingrix.

The Food and Drug Administration may approve the vaccine for the U.S. market by the end of this week, based on a strong recommendation from the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. In mid-September, this group voted unanimously that there is enough evidence to conclude Shingrix is both safe and effective in people 50 and older.

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Next week the vaccine’s entry to the market could get a big promotional boost. As STAT reported in June, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices may recommend doctors use Shingrix rather than the shingles vaccine that is already on the market, Merck’s Zostavax.

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  • There is a sure for way to avoid shingles without the vaccine, which does cause reactions in many people. Eliminate the chicken pox vaccine your kids get. If your child does get a case of the chicken pox, funny panic. It’s a very mild childhood disease that will boost their immune system naturally and prevent a shingles infection, which if the most miserable miserable condition one can imagine.

    • A little fact on shingles…… Shingles presents itself later in life from the chickenpox virus, which remains dormant in your body. When you age, and your immunity declines that’s when you’re susceptible to the virus reemerging in the form of shingles.

      It is true that the chickenpox vaccine can be a reason that shingles reappears later in life as with the wild type infection. However, shingles will most likely be less severe if vaccinated against chickenpox.

      The only way to avoid shingles is to avoid the chickenpox virus altogether.

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