It has been billed as one of the biggest medical discoveries in recent history. The shingles vaccine, originally designed to protect against the agonising blister condition, appears to also ward off dementia.
Compelling research has shown that the jab can slash the risk of the incurable brain disease by as much as 20 per cent and, according to recent analysis, by 50 per cent for vascular dementia – one of the most common types.
The pharmaceutical company behind the jab, GSK, is now exploring whether it could be officially classed as a dementia vaccine. Already, more Britons are lining up for it. According to data released last week, the number of people who paid for a shingles vaccine – which costs about £500 – has doubled in the past year.
It is a remarkable and unexpected step towards a treatment – not least because billions have gone into unsuccessful attempts at creating new dementia drugs, while the shingles vaccine is already available and comparatively cheap.
However, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that a growing number of experts believe the shingles jab is not the only everyday treatment that may have unintended long-term health benefits. Early studies suggest that vaccines for common infections may also fight off dementia and other deadly conditions such as heart disease and cancer.
The research is still in its infancy and hotly contested among scientists, but the theory could revolutionise our understanding of vaccines.
‘It’s quite clear now that the shingles vaccine has this effect on dementia, but what’s not clear is why,’ says Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick. ‘Many assume it is because the virus the vaccine protects against is contributing to dementia. But it’s increasingly likely that vaccines in general boost the immune system, protecting against disease.
‘If that’s the case then it stands to reason there are other diseases that could be prevented too.
Research has shown that the shingles vaccine can slash the risk of dementia by as much as 20 per cent
‘There’s a big story here. The question is, if this immune effect is real, can it be harnessed?’a
So why do scientists believe everyday jabs may have these powerful unintended benefits – and which ones should you get?
Traditionally, vaccines have contained a harmless version of a virus or bacterium. The immune system reacts by producing defensive antibodies against that particular invader. Then, if the person is later exposed to the real infection, the body recognises it and mounts a rapid defence before it can take hold.
The most common adult jab in the UK is the flu vaccine, free each winter for millions of over-65s, pregnant women, children and people with long-term health issues.
The shingles one has also long been given to protect against the painful condition. It is triggered by the varicella zoster virus, which causes chickenpox in children and then lies dormant in the body for life.
But as people get older their immune system weakens and the virus can reactivate as shingles, causing a painful rash of blisters, usually on one side of the body. Around one in four people will develop shingles. For some, the nerve pain lingers for months or even years after the rash clears.
It can sometimes occur earlier in life, often due to stress. In 2023, presenter Holly Willoughby was struck by shingles and had to take a break from hosting This Morning.
Until recently, the UK offered the Zostavax jab, which contained a weakened live version of the virus. It was not considered particularly effective, as it roughly halved the risk in trials and faded over time.
A new shingles vaccine, Shingrix, was introduced on the NHS in 2023 – and it appears to be even more effective
But a landmark 2023 study markedly changed the value of the jab. For years, researchers noted that patients who were up to date with their vaccines – including shingles – were less likely to get dementia. There was always disagreement about this connection. Many experts argued the effect is due to the fact that people who routinely get their vaccines are more likely to be on top of their health – for example, eating well and exercising.
But the report, from researchers at Stanford University, was the clearest proof yet that the vaccine has a direct effect on dementia – by exploiting a quirk in the way the jab was rolled out in Wales.
When NHS Wales began to offer the shingles jab, it strictly disqualified anyone who was 80 or older. This was based on research showing the shingles vaccine to be most effective before that age.
So researchers were able to compare the dementia rates in the unvaccinated population who had only just missed out on the jab with the heavily vaccinated but similarly aged lot.
Using the health records of more than 280,000 patients, they found those who received the vaccine were 20 per cent less likely to develop dementia over the next seven years. ‘It’s a very convincing study,’ says Professor Adam Finn, a vaccine expert at the University of Bristol. ‘The vaccine has a surprisingly big effect on reducing the risk of dementia.’
A new shingles vaccine, Shingrix, was introduced on the NHS in 2023 – and it appears to be even more effective.
Given in two doses, it prevents more than 90 per cent of shingles cases. And earlier this year, a US study of nursing homes found patients given Shingrix were 24 per cent less likely to develop dementia over the following four years.
Now experts argue the effect would be even more profound if the jab were given to younger and healthier patients.
Shingrix is currently offered to those turning 65 or 70, those aged 70 to 79 and anyone 18 and over with a severely weakened immune system. Those not eligible can pay for it privately.
So why might the jab protect the brain? There are suggestions that the varicella zoster virus – which is a form of herpes – could itself be driving dementia.
‘There’s good evidence that herpes viruses can infect the neural cells in the brain and remain in the body for life,’ says Professor Finn.
‘This is true for the chickenpox virus but also herpes simplex [which triggers tell-tale cold sores]. The shingles vaccine could be protecting the brain from these.’
Herpes is not the only virus that has been linked to incurable brain conditions. In 2022, Harvard researchers studying the records of ten million US military personnel found that many cases of multiple sclerosis are triggered by the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever.
Experts stress the idea of the shingles vaccine protecting the brain from the varicella zoster virus is just one school of thought. Another, that many say is simpler and even more game-changing, is that common vaccines boost the whole immune system.
It is what Professor Young calls ‘innate immunity’ – the body’s first-line, general-purpose defences that some scientists believe can be ‘trained’ by vaccines to work more effectively.
A 2022 analysis of clinical trials found flu vaccination was associated with a 34 per cent lower risk of life-threatening cardiovascular events and a 45 per cent lower risk in those who had recently had a heart attack or similar event.
Professor Young argues that this could suggest the flu jab provides protection against ‘chronic inflammation’ – where the immune system responds to an invading virus or bacteria and then remains active, damaging healthy organs.
‘We know that infections often trigger chronic inflammation and this can lead to cardiovascular disease,’ adds Professor Young. ‘It’s possible the flu jab isn’t just helping the body fight off the influenza virus, it’s doing something more general: reducing inflammation in the body.’
Last week the NHS began offering this year’s flu jab to those over the age of 65 as well as healthcare workers and those over 18 with a severely weakened immune system. Similar research has looked at the impact the pneumococcal vaccine, which protects against bacteria that cause pneumonia, has on dementia.
A US study of more than 5,000 people found pneumococcal vaccination between the age of 65 and 75 reduced the risk of Alzheimer’s – the most common form of dementia – by 25 to 30 per cent. That jab is offered on the NHS to everyone aged 65 and over, and to younger people with certain long-term health conditions.
And GSK vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – a common cold-like virus that can be deadly in older people – has also been linked to lower dementia rates. A University of Oxford study found recipients of the RSV vaccine had a 29 per cent lower risk of dementia.
Crucially, this RSV vaccine (Arexvy) shares an ingredient with Shingrix called an adjuvant, designed to boost the immune system regardless of the virus it protects against.
While Arexvy is approved for use in the UK, it is not used by the NHS. Instead, it offers Abrysvo, a jab that does not contain the adjuvant but has been shown in studies to be highly effective at protecting against RSV, which causes around 10,000 deaths every year in the UK.
But experts say the most fascinating link is between the Covid jab and cancer.
Last year, US researchers analysed more than 1,000 patients with advanced lung cancer who were starting immunotherapy, which helps the immune system attack tumours, who had also recently received a Covid vaccine. The study, published in the medical journal Nature, looked at patients who had received a mRNA Covid jab – a form of vaccine technology that gives cells a temporary set of instructions to make a harmless piece of a virus, so the immune system can learn to recognise and fight it.
These vaccines, which included the Pfizer and Moderna jabs, were used for the first time during the pandemic and were the most effective at preventing serious illness and death.
In the study, lung cancer patients who got a Covid mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy survived, on average, for around 37 months, compared with 20 months for those who didn’t get a jab.
Crucially, the researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Texas only looked at the health data of patients who did not get Covid, meaning the study’s findings were not skewed by patients who died as a result of the virus.
And these findings are significant because it suggests the vaccines had an effect that went beyond protecting against Covid.
‘There’s no link between Covid and cancer, so it doesn’t make sense to say that protecting against the virus would help someone’s odds of fighting cancer,’ says Professor Young. ‘These are patients with an advanced and hard-to-treat form of cancer, but those who got an mRNA vaccine survived for much longer.
‘It’s possible that the vaccine boosts the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. There’s clearly something on there when you look at this data, and it needs to be properly explored.’
Last week, GP practices began offering the latest Covid vaccine to those over 75, residents in care homes and people with weakened immune systems. Some high street pharmacies are also offering it for around £100.
However, while the evidence that everyday vaccines may have long-term health benefits is becoming stronger, fewer people are getting jabbed.
Last year only three-quarters of over-65s had a flu jab, compared to about 81 per cent in 2022.
Vaccine uptake among children has also fallen drastically. The number who received an MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab has fallen from 92 per cent in 2014 to about 82 per cent in the most recent data.
Experts say this, in part, is due to a phenomenon called vaccine-fatigue – where patients become less likely to get a vaccination because they have had so many recently – but also because of the well-publicised complications of the Covid vaccines. These include rare blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca version and heart inflammation linked to mRNA jabs.
But growing evidence that these jabs may help fight off dementia, heart disease and cancer could reverse this trend, giving patients more reasons to get jabbed.
‘This is a controversial topic and much more evidence is needed before we can say anything with certainty,’ says Professor Finn. ‘However, it’s a very important area of medicine to explore.
‘If it turns out that vaccines have these additional benefits, then that would be an enormous motivator for more people going out to get jabbed.’
My husband and I got the jab to prevent dementia
Miranda Levy and her husband Jeremy got the shingles vaccine in an effort to prevent dementia
It’s our first wedding anniversary (writes Miranda Levy) and my husband Jeremy and I are in bed, sweaty and exhausted.
Sadly, however, this is the result of our immune systems leaping into action after we received our second shingles jabs the day before.
Despite some short-term pain, I can’t think of a better anniversary present than the grand I splurged on these vaccines – £500 for each set of two jabs.
Not only should Jeremy and I now swerve shingles – a nasty viral infection in itself – but we may also have lowered our risk of dementia.
Research suggests that a surprising side effect of the Shingrix shingles vaccine is that it may slash the risk of dementia by as much as 20 per cent.
I learned about this earlier this year at Oxford Longevity Project’s annual conference in my work as a medical journalist. The professor making the presentation made it clear that the findings had not been proven beyond doubt – but I was convinced and booked in Jeremy and myself for the vaccine.
And so, a few days after the conference, I found myself standing in front of my local pharmacist, blowing a chunk of that month’s earnings.
The after-effects were mildly unpleasant but they didn’t last for long, and we’d do this again in a heartbeat. If Jeremy and I can lower our chances of developing dementia down the track, the care-home fees will be cheaper, our children less put-upon, and we won’t have to annoy one another with inane conversation and repetition (at least, more than we do already).
And we may even be able to remember our wedding day.
