The newer, better vaccine does an even better job

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/02/could-a-vaccine-prevent-dementia-shingles-shot-data-only-getting-stronger/

“A study published in Nature Communications this month by researchers in California went further. They compared dementia rates among nearly 66,000 people who received the Shingrix vaccine and over 260,000 unvaccinated matched controls. The researchers found that the vaccinated group had a 51 percent lower risk of dementia compared to the unvaccinated controls.”

Although I take these studies with a 'grain of salt', as it may just be a correlation, and not a causation ( people who take the vaccine generally take better care of themselves in many other ways ), I decided not to take any chances, and got my Shingles vaccination this past summer.

Also, I have known people who have gotten Shingles later on in life; the condition is quite painful and can last for years.

4 minutes ago, MigL said:

Although I take these studies with a 'grain of salt', as it may just be a correlation, and not a causation ( people who take the vaccine generally take better care of themselves in many other ways ), ...

This is not the study's issue, but the pop-sci reporting's one. The study only says,

Vaccination with two doses of RZV was associated ...

5 hours ago, MigL said:

Although I take these studies with a 'grain of salt', as it may just be a correlation, and not a causation ( people who take the vaccine generally take better care of themselves in many other ways ), I decided not to take any chances, and got my Shingles vaccination this past summer.

Also, I have known people who have gotten Shingles later on in life; the condition is quite painful and can last for years.

There is actually quite a bit more data regarding that, as well as a proposed mechanism. One of the key factors regarding dementia is neuroinflammation. And shingles is, of course an infection of neural tissue. A range of previous studies have shown that shingles is associated with dementia. See e.g. Chen et al., 2018 Clin Psych.

There was another paper early last year (I think the first author was Tang, but cannot recall the journal) also showing reduction in dementia risk in vaccinated groups, but also looked more closely on whether folks were diagnosed with shingles.

Together, the lit makes a compelling case that neuroinflammation, in this case caused by a virus, is associated with dementia, and preventing such occurrences, e.g., using a vaccine, reduces dementia risk.

Outside of shingles, there is also literature showing that vaccinations in general might be associated with reduced dementia risk (including for example influenza, tetanus, diphtheria etc.). Suggesting that beyond protection of specific neural infection, there might be another effect at play.

The main hypothesis is modulation of the immune response and IIRC, the idea is that vaccinated folks have a lower inflammatory response to an infection and in the time period after an infection. Thereby, they lower overall inflammation, thus reducing dementia risk. That link is AFAIK not fully validated, but in my reading the evidence is somewhat compelling and does explain some observations made in dementia research.

yeah, tell it to RFK Jr 😄 .