Chickenpox, shingles and vaccines: USC expert shares what you need to know

https://news.usc.edu/147422/chickenpox-and-shingles-vaccines-usc-doctor-on-what-you-need-to-know/

BY Connie Sommer
August 21, 2018

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“Almost everyone born before 1980 tests positive for exposure to varicella,” Orrange said. That’s why the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices considers people born before 1980 immune to the varicella virus. Even if you never broke out in the telltale rash, if you’re 38 years old or older, you almost certainly have the virus lying dormant in your system.

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if you’re 50 or older, you can and should get the new shingles vaccine, Shingrix, whether or not you remember getting chickenpox in childhood. It’s given as a shot in two doses, two to six months apart.

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