A- Annual
Truthfully, ‘A’ should stand for Angry. More often than not, I’m too angry. That’s not always fun to read.
Regardless, it’s that time of year – flu shot season. I hate flu shots. Personally, I don’t think retail pharmacists should be required to administer vaccines. It’s just dumb. However, filling prescriptions doesn’t ‘pay the bills’ anymore for corporate suits. At least, I get to stab people with a sharp object, eh?!
A new bad boy vaccination has been introduced to the Senior community – Shingrix. Unfortunately, it’s more a of shit show than the ‘get a shot, give a shot’ gimmick.
I – Immunization
Shingles is a reactivation of an original chickenpox infection that travels down a dermatome (an area of the skin supplied by nerves from a single spinal root) and causes rash and pain. It’s a common infection—roughly 1 in every 1000 people every year in the United States will suffer shingles. Usually, shingles occurs in those over 65 years of age. The pain of shingles is one of the worst pains in medicine.
In 2006, the first vaccine to hopefully prevent shingles was introduced – Zostavax a live, weakened form of the chickenpox (varicella) virus. The efficacy of Zostavax against rash was about 51%. The vaccine was frozen. Once thawed there was a thirty minute window for injection. From a retail pharmacist perspective, administration was a timing cluster fuck.
Recently, in October 2017, another shingles vaccine was licensed and recommended. It’s called Shingrix, and it’s made in quite a biologically different manner. Instead of being a whole weakened form of the virus, it’s just one protein that sits on the surface of the virus—the so-called glycoprotein E—and then two adjuvants are used.
The efficacy of Shingrix against rash is supposed to be in the mid- to high 90% range, for all age groups—even for those over 70 years of age.
- This vaccine can be given starting at 50 years of age;
- It’s a two-dose vaccine, with the second dose being given 2-6 months after the first
- Since it is NOT a live virus, it’s not frozen and has similar storage parameters as other vaccines.
Paul A. Offit. Shingrix: Is the Hype Justified? – Medscape – Feb 13, 2018.
I decided to cite this source. I was going to include the link as well. Whenever I attempted to re-enter, I was often blocked, requesting me ‘To Join’ . I would not subject readers to that shit.
R – Rant
First, let me qualify something – vaccinating against Shingles is a good thing. Shingles sucks. I just hate being the one giving the stupid shot. Ironically, there isn’t even any damn vaccine to administer. From what I understand, the manufacturer underestimated the frenzy, therefore creating a shortage. I actually heard the Drug company intentionally manipulated the supply to increase demand. Totally bullshit in my opinion. What makes the whole situation unbearable is the fucking Seniors who would literally sacrifice a loved one for a single ‘hit’ of Shingrix. And, they’ve already been immunized with Zostavax. Shit, man. It’s worse than a limited supply of Viagra in the Villages, FL.
I could go on, but I’m better now. I’ve released my … A.I.R. Besides, Shingrix is on Back Order for another 2 weeks. Again. So, I’s am breathing much easier.
