Shingles vaccine could protect against stroke and heart disease, study finds

The shingles vaccine could slash the risk of heart disease, heart failure and stroke, a study has found.

If all people aged over 60 had the jab, which is available on the NHS, it would prevent tens of thousands of deaths, an expert said.

Shingles is a viral infection that causes painful rashes.

The vaccine that protects against the illness, called Shingrix, is available on the NHS for people aged 65 to 79, and for those with weakened immune systems aged 18 and older.

The NHS previously administered Zostavax to immunise against shingles, but this was replaced by Shingrix almost three years ago.

Researchers from the University of Oxford compared the risk of heart failure, stroke or ischemic heart disease - where narrowed or blocked arteries reduce blood flow to the heart - over seven years in people who had either Zostavax or Shingrix.

They analysed data from more than 70,000 people on the TriNetX electronic health records network in the US, which switched from Zostavax to Shingrix in October 2017.

The study found that up to seven years after vaccination, people who had Shingrix lived 9% longer without developing cardiovascular disease.

It was also linked to living 10% longer without ischaemic heart disease and 12% longer without heart failure, the study found.

The benefit was seen in both men and women, with men also showing a 12% increase in time lived stroke-free.

There were 36,000 patients in each group and all were over the age of 60.

Dr Maxime Taquet, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford who led the study, said: "We found that Shingrix appears to protect against cardiovascular disease in both women and men.

"And we found that the protective association was most pronounced for ischemic heart disease and heart failure, but less so for ischemic stroke, where the effect was not sensitively significant.

"It was, however, significant in males."

He said if everyone over 60 in the UK was vaccinated using Shingrix, then over a seven-year follow up, tens of thousands of deaths could be prevented.

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Shingles is caused by the herpes zoster virus flaring up again in people who previously had chicken pox.

Paul Harrison, professor of psychiatry and Biomedical Research Centre Oxford Health theme lead for molecular targets, said the vaccine may benefit the heart because the virus increases the risk of heart diseases.

"By inhibiting the virus, the vaccine could reduce this risk," he said.

"Alternatively, the vaccine also contains chemicals which might have separate beneficial effects on the heart."

The findings, which are published in the journal Nature Medicine, come after a 2024 study found that Shingrix was linked to a 17% drop in dementia diagnoses in the six years after vaccination.

Dr Taquet said a trial exploring the effects of Shingrix on heart problems and dementia is under way in Denmark.

He said, if the finding is confirmed, Shingrix "might be the first vaccine that protects the heart and the brain".

Shingrix is a non-live vaccine, made from a specific protein found on the surface of the virus that causes the illness, making it safer for people with weakened immune systems.

(c) Sky News 2026: Shingles vaccine could protect against stroke and heart disease, study finds