Shingles and Covid Vaccines

I had the first of two Shingles vaccines; had minimal to no side effects. I plan on going for my Covid. How have all of you with T2 done with one or both vaxes in terms of side effects please? I had the Pfizer Covid, and plan to ask pharmacy which one they are giving. Side effect with last Covid vax was the volume of the ringing in my ears went WAY up, and that was approximately 2021? Thank you all in advance. Amy

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I got both my shingles vaccines way before Covid came along. The first few Covid shots made my arm super sore, but that was it. No affect on blood sugar, and the flu shot doesn’t affect my blood sugar either.

It’s nothing to do with T2 so I’ll comment (I’m T1). COVID is becoming a thing not to worry about, shingles (and its variations) is certainly not, so if you have doubts delay the COVID and do the second shingles vaccine.

That applies to everyone. I am too old to have been given the varicella vaccine when I was young and I did get chickenpox, my first wife didn’t get chickenpox. After we came to the US she caught chickenpox (in her 40s) and that was a really bad deal.

Later, after our divorce, I had a weird thing happen in my left eye; it was going cloudy very rapidly. After going to the eye doctors I was sent to a much more distant eye doctor (my new wife had to drive) who determined I had some variant of the herpes virus in my eye; most likely given my history varicella zoster. This is “eye shingles”.

I’ve had the shingles vaccine (well, one of them) as has my later wife. People who had the original varicella vaccine in their childhood are probably better off but for everyone else it is a game of catch up; the herpes virus goes inactive and as a result is undetectable in apparently all species.

I’ve put off my COVID vaccine several times this year; just inconvenient dealing with all the hoopla caused by the mess created at the CDC (Walmart wouldn’t give it without a doctors prescriptions) and so on. Other countries have pretty much dropped it entirely. I’ll get mine tomorrow, unless something comes up, but, whatever.

This is a thing for everyone with kids; herpes is not nice and never leaves, get your kids all the vaccines.

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FYI just 'cause I went to wallyworld for my covid shot this month, I used their app to schedule the appt, it didn’t ask which covid vaccine I needed. The kid giving the shot didn’t ask and walked in the room with Moderna. I had to send her back to get Pfizer.

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I get my Covid vaccines when it’s convenient and often it happens when I’m at the doctor anyway for my 4 times a year check in.

I never had chickenpox. I got vaccinated at 30. And I’m 59 now.

I don’t keep very good hold on vaccines and they tend to weaken over time. I had to get MMR because my antibodies were nearly zero.

My doctor told me DO Not get shingles vaccine because it could give me the virus that can give me shingles. Herpes Zoster however that was years ago before the shingrix recombinant dna version came out

And I know it all sounds crazy, but if you never had chickenpox pox, you can’t get shingles, but I could get chicken pox from someone who has shingles, strangely enough because you can get breakthrough infections esp if you are like me that doesn’t hold on to antibodies too well.

Type 1s have screwed up immune systems, and so this is not that uncommon a situation.

If you get the dead chicken pox vaccine, you won’t get the virus. If you get the live vaccine you are being infected with a weakened version, that they say will no go dormant and come back with shingles, but do they really know?

Besides they don’t seem to offer the dead virus type anymore

The vaccine has not been around long enough to know as the first recipients of the chicken pox vaccine aren’t old enough to get shingles for the most part.

It’s stated that chickenpox vaccine reduces chance of shingles by 99% but what about getting chicken pox from someone with shingles. There is a hole here in the logic.

A person who never had chickenpox pox, and gets exposed to the virus will get chickenpox pox and not shingles at least at first.

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The kind eye doctor explained this along with talking about how he could scrape the stuff off my eyeball; herpes forms fern-like structures on the surface of the eye which is why it messes up vision.

The herpes virus infects nerve cells, which can’t reproduce so normally last a lifetime. The virus stops being active and just stays there. Various triggers, including UV, can cause the virus to start to replicate.

It’s the same virus so chickenpox-shingles causes chickenpox infections which can, eventually, result in shingles again.

The vaccines are all the same; it’s the same infection, the same virus. Different countries have different approaches; until next year with the introduction of the MMRV vaccination the UK hasn’t offered childhood vaccination and it was pretty expensive to buy. The US has offered childhood vaccination since 1995.

Immunity wanes over time which must be part of why shingles can occur.

COVID can still kill us. So I stay up to date. No major reaction. Sore arm in the area of the injection for a day. Nancy

I tend to be strongly pro-vax.

COVID vaccinations usually knock me back for a day and a half (1.5 days), so I typically schedule the injection for Friday late, in case I need to sleep it off, although not sure about my most recent experience. Seriously, the benefits so grossly outweigh the side effects it is barely a concern. I’m 65, and take every recommended vaccine, so last year I got TDAP (tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough), in September this year I got the COVID shot, and a few weeks later, the flu shot.

Although it is doubtful that the COVID shot increased your tinnitus, the sheer volume of data showing benefits to the vaccine greatly outweighs the possible side-effects (for most people, excluding rare occurrences of blood clots and enlarged hearts that occurred in young people). Most recently, a study showed improved cancer recovery in those vaccinated since it revs the immune response.

BTW, personally, I choose Moderna when given the option, as prior studies have shown a stronger immune response, but it can pay to maybe mix it up and go for something different, to help your immune system learn to fight COVID better.

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