Can the shingles vaccine protect my heart?
Ask the doctor
Q. You’ve reported that the shingles vaccine reduces inflammation, and that reducing brain inflammation reduces dementia risk. Does the vaccine also protect against heart inflammation and disease?
A. Inflammation — activation of the immune system in response to infection or injury — is an important factor in many major diseases. So, your question is right on the mark: inflammation of the lining of heart arteries plays an important role in heart disease. In May 2025, the European Heart Journal published a study of 1.3 million people in South Korea, comparing the health of people after they got the shingles vaccine with the health of people who didn’t. Scientists found that those who’d received the shot had about a 25% lower risk of various types of heart disease, including heart failure, angina and heart attacks, and irregular heartbeats over the following six years. They also had about the same reduction in the risk of having a stroke (artery inflammation in the brain is an important cause of strokes).
I had shingles before there was a vaccine for it. It was no fun, so I got the vaccine as soon as it became available: no shingles since. To learn that I may also have protected myself against dementia, heart disease, and stroke is icing on the cake — a lot of icing.
Image: © Sergii Iaremenko/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
About the Author
Anthony L. Komaroff, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Health Letter; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
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