Zostavax

Zostavax was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2006, to prevent shingles in people over 50 years old. Shingles is a very painful and dreaded condition that can occur in anyone who has had chickenpox earlier in life. A vaccine to prevent the disease was a welcome development. Unfortunately, Zostavax is only effective in about 50% of those who use it, the likelihood that it will effective is less in older people, and worst of all, it can actually cause shingles. Less than 10 years after Zostavax was approved, the FDA had received 1,111 serious adverse event reports linked to the vaccine, including 36 deaths.

Zostavax Side Effects

Zostavax contains live varicella zoster virus (VZV). It is supposed to be weakened, so that it stimulates the immune system rather than causing the disease, but the VZV used in Zostavax has not been weakened enough. According to the FDA, Zostavax can cause side effects including:

• Shingles
• Chickenpox
• Injection site hives
• Injection site rash
• Rash away from the injection site
• Fever
• Muscle pain
• Joint pain
• Nausea
• Swollen glands near injection site
• Necrotizing retinitis, which can lead to blindness

Shingles alone can cause:

• Severely painful rash with blisters
• Neurological complications including encephalitis, meningitis and stroke
• Postherpetic neuralgia
• Allodynia
• Bacterial superinfection
• Pneumonia
• Vision Loss
• Hearing Loss
• Scarring
• Death

If you have developed shingles or other serious side effects after receiving the Zostavax vaccine, you may be able to recover compensation for your injuries. Please talk to an experienced defective drug attorney right away to learn more about your rights.