A Vaccine for Dementia? The Evidence Is Astonishing.

https://www.dralexnewsletter.com/ Join the community by signing up to my daily newsletter! Practical health advice, straight to your inbox, every morning. Could a shingles jab you might already be entitled to also help protect your memory as you get older? Pharmacy bookings for the shingles vaccine have more than doubled in the past year, and new research on dementia risk is a big part of why. In this video I look at the evidence on the shingles vaccine, Shingrix, brain health and dementia prevention, and what it really means for you. As a doctor who has diagnosed and treated shingles many times in the emergency department, I start with what the varicella zoster virus actually does, where it hides in your body and why it might have anything to do with your brain. Then I walk you through the clever Welsh birthday study published in Nature, the Oxford research on the newer Shingrix jab, and a much larger study from England that found no drop in dementia at all. After that we get practical. I cover who can get the jab for free on the NHS or through insurance in the US, whether paying around £460 privately makes sense, the common side effects, and the everyday changes like blood pressure, hearing and staying active that have far stronger evidence for protecting your brain right now. In this video you'll learn: -What shingles is and where the chickenpox virus hides in your body -Two theories on how a virus in your nerves could affect your brain -How a birthday cutoff in Wales created a natural experiment on dementia -What the Oxford study found about Shingrix and time free of a dementia diagnosis -Why a study of 6.3 million people in England found no drop in dementia -How the healthy user effect can make a vaccine look better than it is -Who should consider the shingles jab and the safety points worth knowing -The changes with the strongest evidence for protecting your brain today Whether you're weighing up the jab for yourself or for an older parent, this should help you make a calm, informed decision with your own doctor, without the hype. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Introduction 02:17 – Shingles, and where the virus hides 04:16 – Why a virus in your nerves might affect your brain 05:28 – The Welsh birthday experiment 07:53 – The newer jab and the Oxford study 09:46 – The big English study that found nothing 12:24 – Should you get the shingles jab? 14:53 – What protects your brain right now REFERENCES A natural experiment on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40175... The recombinant shingles vaccine is associated with lower risk of dementia https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39053... Eligibility for shingles vaccination and hospital-coded dementia in England and Wales: a regression discontinuity analysis in England https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64... Herpes zoster and the risk of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28178... Efficacy of the Herpes Zoster Subunit Vaccine in Adults 70 Years of Age or Older https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27626... Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39096... Efficacy of an adjuvanted herpes zoster subunit vaccine in older adults https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25916... Herpes Zoster Vaccination and Dementia Occurrence https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40267... Effect of Intensive vs Standard Blood Pressure Control on Probable Dementia: A Randomized Clinical Trial https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30688... Disclaimer: This is not personal medical advice and does not override what your doctor says. #dralex #doctoralex #shinglesvaccine #dementia #brainhealth #shingles