Hi there,

I had my first shot of Covid vaccine (Moderna) in the month of June.
3 weeks after the first dose I started feeling variation in my energy levels and then just a week before my planned 2nd dose I developed severe case of shingles (herpes zoaster/ varicella zoaster virus related) on the right part of my body. I immediately consulted a doctor and was put on medication for 7 days and was advised to reschedule the 2nd dose.

During the first consultation doctor was reluctant to admit that the shingles were because of Covid vaccine. However upon going through Swiss government site (https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/do...-id-83218.html), I was sure that it was one of the reasons why I got shingles. and in subsequent consultation my doctor admitted that it was vaccine and stress. She was insisting me on getting the second dose a bit later, but now I am too scared to go for the second dose. When I called to reschedule the appointment, the officer told me that I was not the first person who had shingles- apparently many people reported shingles after having mRNA vaccine.

Its been over 3 weeks since I had shingles, however I still suffer from severe pain etc. Also I don't get good sleep at night... Was wondering if any of you had shingles after the 1st or 2nd dose of vaccination? If so, how long it took for you to completely recover?

Herpes of any type can burst on the scene after any kind of stress to the body; it's just waiting there in the nerve endings. It wouldn't keep me from the second jab...as awful as herpes is, it's better than the alternative. Please, please get your second vax.

Sounds like you need to get your stress levels down which may help.

Also if you have a susceptibility to shingles and the vaccine did trigger it, actually getting COVID would probably trigger it as well which would be even worse than shingles on its own.

This. You don't want to end up with both!

Shingles is usually caused by some sort of severe stress which weakens your immune system. This can be physical effort (like running a marathon) or emotional/work-related stress. I'm no doctor but I'd be surprised if the vaccination itself would cause shingles on its own but it's possible that if you were anxious about the jab and also going through a stressful period, it could have been the final straw for your immune system. Either way, I wouldn't wish shingles on anyone. I've had it in the past and it was very uncomfortable.

It's the dormant chicken pox virus AFAIK. And if you have shingles you can pass on the chicken pox virus to others. Stress might be a trigger but you need to have had the virus in the past.

I was a Shingles virgin, but I got it this year for the first and hopefully the last time. I got it before getting any vaccine. I feel I had asymptomatic Corona, and it probably bought it out.


As others have mentioned, stress can bring it out. Anyone who had Chickenpox as a child carries the virus in a dormant state for the rest of their lives. I have run many marathons and gone through really stressful life situations and never had Shingles. So I am squarely blaming Corona


I was worried that the vaccine might bring it out again, but nothing so far.




Only to those who did not have chickenpox before.

I thought that went without saying but...

The chickenpox virus can be passed on to anybody regardless if they have had the disease before or not.

If they've had chickenpox before then they're immune. Hence shingles. Unless you had it very young, I believe, like less than a year old, then you can get chicken pox twice.

Source: my GP when chicken pox was rife in my workplace when I was preggers.

get another professional advise ?

Yes, that's absolutely right -- you have to have had chicken pox, as many of us have, usually as children. I wasn't aware that shingles can lead to a transfer of the virus. But yes, once you have the dormant chicken pox virus in your system, it can be reactivated as shingles if your immune system is weakened, often as a result of other illnesses or high levels of stress.

I really doubt this is anything to do with the vaccine. Almost all of us will have had chickenpox yet nobody else seems to have gotten shingles.

We're all unique I guess in our responses to things but I agree that the vaccine itself, on its own and without other factors, seems very unlikely to trigger shingles.

Interesting...

I had shingles about six years ago, triggered by extreme stress (high cortisol). It was on my forehead and scalp. Thankfully, it cleared up pretty quickly from the anti-viral meds and I never had any problems after that. But...

I had my second vaccine on June 9th. I remember a couple weeks later, I felt a weird tingling sensation in my scalp a few times, in the same spot. It would come and go. And the tingling sensation immediately reminded me of what it felt like when I had shingles years ago. I haven't felt it again since then, but now after reading your post, I'm wondering if it could have been due to the vaccine.

Anyways... I really hope you are feeling completely back to normal very soon! If lowering your cortisol helps (to bring down your stress), I've read before that there are a few things you can do to help with that, if you do a Google search for "how to lower your cortisol."

Correlation does not imply causation.

OTOH, I'd would not be surprised if a vaccine caused shingles in a very small number of cases. When you're giving medication to billions of people, rare side-effects will crop up.

Sadly, this time, it was you. Get well soon.

I would say it's definitely related to the vaccine and encourage you to report it as so. All side effects should be reported.
https://www.swissmedic.ch/swissmedic...-update-3.html
Hope you get better soon.

That's my understanding as well. It can be triggered by stress or other age related factors. I have been vaccinated against it and I encourage other adults to do so as well, but at this point after the covid ones and always in consultation with a physician.

Your post doesn't make sense - you say the first point (which I'd agree with) and then muddy the waters by saying the opposite.

Surely much more likely that the immune response from the vaccine potentially lowered their immune system in general and the shingles then kicked in. Even their doctor is suggesting stress meaning it could be purely stress-related and not the vaccine at all.