adssx
#144
The case for vaccines is becoming stronger by the day:
Recombinant zoster vaccine and reduced risk of dementia: matched-cohort study using large-scale electronic health records and machine learning methodology 2025
Compared to PPSV23, ZVL significantly reduced 3-year (RR: 0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.86-0.90; p<0.0001) and 5-year (RR: 0. 92, 95%CI: 0.89-0.95; p<0.0001) dementia risk. RZV significantly reduced 3-year (RR: 0.76, 95%CI: 0.69-0.84; p<0.0001) and 5-year (RR: 0.80, 95%CI: 0.71-0.90; p<0.0005) dementia risk, when compared to PPSV23. Compared to ZVL, RZV was also associated with a significant reduction of 3-year (RR: 0.73, 95%CI: 0. 60-0.89; p<0.005) and 5-year (RR: 0.77, 95%CI: 0.64-0.92; p<0.005) dementia risk.
(I like the comparison between vaccines: what could explain the reduced risk other than benefits of the new vax?)
Pneumococcal vaccination, but not influenza vaccination, is negatively associated with incident dementia among Japanese older adults: The JAGES 2013–2022 prospective cohort study 2024
PPSV23 uptake was negatively associated with incident dementia among participants in both the short- and long-term follow-up periods after SIPW (short-term follow-up: HR: 0.77, 95 % CI: 0.63 – 0.95; long-term follow-up: HR: 0.83, 95 % CI: 0.70 – 0.97). Conversely, IIV uptake was not associated with incident dementia among participants in either follow-up group (short-term follow-up: HR: 0.86, 95 % CI: 0.63–1.16; long-term follow-up: HR: 0.99, 95 % CI: 0.76–1.29).
Good to see the findings reproduced in another database in another country. I think the negative finding for the flu jab can be explained by its short-term effect. The pneumococcal jab is a once-in-a-lifetime shot while you need to take the flu jab yearly. They only asked “Have you had the flu shot in the past year?” and still found a trend for protection over 3.5 years. It would be good to see the same study with “How many times did you get the flu shot over the past 10 years” and see the subsequent dementia risk plotted VS number of shots.
6 Likes
Wasn’t there a finding for the flu vaccine that you saw the pleiotropic protective effects only after 3-4 doses, i.e. 3-4 years of a flu shot?
It’s possible that you need to maintain the immunity effect to access the other benefits. Also let us remember the UK biobank findings for hep A vaccine, and the immunity effect of that vaccine seems very long (20+ years), maybe even lifelong. Meanwhile there’s the situation with tuberculosis where you do better with repeated vaccinations(?). Shingrix pleiotropic effects seem to attenuate after about 6 years, while the immunity lasts about 10. Tetanus and tdap vaccines have a roughly 10 year immunity period, but the pleiotropic effects are stronger in the beginning and attenuate with time. Based on that I personally have elected to get the tdap every five years. There are mixed reports on the immunity period for pneumococcal vaccines, but my plan is to get it every ten years - mind you, at 66 I don’t have much lifespan left, lol, so every 10 years means very few such periods - it’s a different calculation for a younger person.
3 Likes
shc
#146
A nice summary of what we know / how we know that vaccines don’t cause autism, even though I’m sure I’m mostly preaching to the choir here.
4 Likes
AnUser
#149
The number of measles cases linked to an outbreak in West Texas has grown to 58, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Most of the cases are centered in Gaines County, which is reporting 45 cases. Other surrounding areas are seeing spread of the illness too, with 9 cases in Terry County, two in Yoakum County, one in Lynn County and one in Lubbock County.
The cases are mostly in children ages 5 to 17. Although most of the cases are in unvaccinated people or those whose vaccination status is unknown, there were four cases of measles in people who said they had been vaccinated. No other details were immediately available about those four people.
In all of the cases, symptoms began in the past three weeks. Thirteen of the people have been hospitalized.
https://x.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1892219946442068105#m
2 Likes
RapAdmin
split this topic
#150
The study is pretty interesting.
I think it’s quite a leap to go from what we currently know based on one study which is roughly “there exists people who have a distinct immunological profile presumably post-COVID vaccine” to “we should end childhood vaccine schedules that we’ve been using for decades that have nearly eliminated most childhood diseases”
2 Likes
I think RapAdmin is doing a great job of moderating this website. I dare say you will not find a more pro-vaccine person than me here or elsewhere. That said, I too don’t mind having well behaved anti-vaxxers around. Beth makes an excellent point - you don’t want to live in a bubble. Before the election all my friends were convinced that KH would win, and when asked I told them, it was plain as day that DT would win, and by a lot. The election result shocked them. My point to them was that they live in a bubble.
It’s all about balance. You don’t want the boards overrun by flat earthers, because it’s exhausting to wade through nonsense, but having a few well behaved folks with exotic views keeps you aware of the world out there. I like having Bicep around, I rarely agree with him, but he strikes me as a sincere person, and frankly a likeable guy, plus I personally love the reports from the farm, that’s awesome!
Tolerance is a good thing, you can’t ban everyone who has a quirky view… because that’s you too. I think a lot of the supplements, drugs and interventions promoted with no pushback on this website are frankly cray cray. Most of the time, I say nothing, because no one is 100% rational, I’m sure in many circles any of us - myself included would be regarded as nutcases taking a drug like rapamycin for longevity, with no directly related biomarkers to track or proof in humans. Where does the banning stop? It’s like the Emo Philips Golden Gate Bridge joke:
That said, balance is key. You don’t want to degrade the utility of the board through excessive amounts of noise. Skipping is good - I skip whole threads all the time, it saves time and keeps my blood pressure under control. And keeping politics and religion out of it is always a good move.
8 Likes
shc
#159
Well said! Thanks for taking the time to express this.
1 Like
Beth
#162
3 Likes
shc
#163
Vaccine for pancreatic cancer. Publication in Nature shows how the T-cells derived from vaccination lasts for a long duration meaning prolonged protection.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08508-4
Thread on Twitter/X: https://x.com/TheVinodLab/status/1892245578446184873
1 Like
AnUser
#164
I don’t take Rapamycin myself right now, but maybe this might be important? I’ll get it for other reasons anyway.
Study from last year in The Lancet:
We investigated the effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccination in preventing morbidity and mortality associated with pneumonia in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.
In the multivariable analysis, pneumococcal vaccination was negatively associated with hospitalisation due to pneumonia (adjusted odds ratio 0·70 [95% CI 0·60–0·81]), death due to pneumonia (0·60 [0·48–0·76]), and lower respiratory tract infection treated with antibiotics (0·76 [0·72–0·80]).
Pneumococcal vaccination is associated with protection against hospitalisation and death due to pneumonia in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanrhe/article/PIIS2665-9913(24)00128-0/fulltext
2 Likes
KiwiGuy
#165
I’m double triple vaxxed and happy to be a pin cushion… some of my best mates aren’t vaxxed - it’s entirely up to them!
I even offered to get a vax for one of my anti-vax mates (turn up, say I was him & take his jab) (so he wouldn’t have employment issues). He wanted to take a moral stand and wouldn’t let me (lost his job, but seems happier in his new one).
We’ve all survived Covid. Let’s see if we can work together and also survive CVD, Cancer, Diabetes, Neuro-degeneration etc…
2 Likes
AnUser
#166
For some reason I thought the Shingles vaccine couldn’t be taken together with pneumococcal, but that’s incorrect. I wouldn’t anyway but worried about interactions and order of vaccination:
E.g. from AUSG:
Can the Shingrix vaccine be given at the same time as other vaccines?
Shingrix® can be given at the same time as most other vaccines, including influenza and pneumococcal. However, it is best to have it by itself if possible. This can reduce the reactions experienced from having multiple vaccines. Talk to your doctor or other vaccination provider for advice.
shc
#167
I have taken the shingles vaccine with another vaccines. And in general, vaccines can be taken with each other which is why they are combined (MMR, TDAP, HepA/B, etc.).
However if you have the luxury of being able to take them seperately, that may be a good idea, especially for the second dose of shingles which can elicit a pretty large immune response. Gulian Barr syndrome is a rare side effect of shingles vaccines (1-2 additional cases per million doses for Shingles). And it isn’t known if this can be reduced by number of vaccines taken at once or by lowering the dose — but maybe it could lower risk in the margin.
As for me, I took it with another vaccine because it was more convenient…
2 Likes
adssx
#169
Paper: A natural experiment on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia 2025
Using these comparison groups in a regression discontinuity design, we show that receiving the zoster vaccine reduced the probability of a new dementia diagnosis over a follow-up period of 7 years by 3.5 percentage points (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.6–7.1, P = 0.019), corresponding to a 20.0% (95% CI = 6.5–33.4) relative reduction. This protective effect was stronger among women than men.
3 Likes
adssx
#170
I just got shingles 
32yo male. It’s pretty mild but I wish I had taken the jab (I tried to but I couldn’t in London…)
1 Like
shc
#171
Oh no! I believe there are antivirals that you’d want to look into – the sooner you take them the more they help…
Btw, the earlier shingles vaccine before shingrix - Zostovax was just a higher dose of the chickenpox vaccine,Varivax. Based on this, I did a full course of the chickenpox vaccine a couple years back hoping it’d prevent shingles. A year later though, I was able to get access to Shingrix in Canada and took that (age: 37), because I was about to move countries.
1 Like
adssx
#172
Yes I’ve just started aciclovir. Unfortunately rather late in the course of the disease. Indeed I asked ChatGPT and it said it was a fungal infection so I put anti fungal cream… until the (mild) stabbing pain arrived and I went to the doctor…
?? Childhood vaccination against chickenpox standard in France in the early 90’s?
Epidemiology of chickenpox in France (1991-1995)
