Half of all people reaching 80 will get shingles
En Murcia, por primera vez en España, los datos del mundo real confirman lo que los ensayos clínicos prometían: vacunarse contra el herpes zóster a los 80 años reduce el riesgo de enfermar en un 88 por ciento. Es una victoria de la medicina preventiva, pero también un espejo incómodo, porque menos de un tercio de quienes podían protegerse eligieron hacerlo. La ciencia ha cumplido su parte; ahora la pregunta es si la sociedad cumplirá la suya.
- El herpes zóster afecta a la mitad de quienes llegan a los 80 años y puede dejar un dolor crónico tan intenso que arrebata la movilidad y la alegría de vivir.
- Murcia registró 1.705 casos por cada 100.000 personas no vacunadas frente a solo 202 entre las vacunadas de la misma edad, una diferencia que ya no admite dudas.
- A pesar de que la vacuna Shingrix está financiada desde 2023 para mayores de 65 años, apenas el 31-36 % de los grupos objetivo ha acudido a recibirla.
- En 2024 se evitaron 109 casos de herpes zóster gracias a la vacunación, pero las autoridades sanitarias advierten que miles de personas siguen expuestas sin necesidad.
- Con la evidencia real ya en la mano, la prioridad de salud pública en Murcia es ahora una sola: convencer a más personas de que se vacunen antes de que el virus despierte.
Murcia se ha convertido en la primera región española en medir con datos propios el impacto real de la vacuna contra el herpes zóster en población mayor. Los resultados son contundentes y, al mismo tiempo, revelan una oportunidad desaprovechada.
El punto de partida es una estadística que pocos conocen: la mitad de quienes llegan a los 80 años sufrirán herpes zóster en algún momento. No se trata de una molestia pasajera. El virus, aletargado desde la varicela infantil, se reactiva cuando el sistema inmunitario envejece y puede provocar un dolor crónico e incapacitante que dura meses o años, robándole a las personas la movilidad y la calidad de vida que tanto han tardado en construir.
En 2023, las autoridades sanitarias de Murcia comenzaron a financiar la vacuna Shingrix para quienes cumplían 65 años, y en 2024 ampliaron la cobertura a los que llegaban a los 80. Hasta entonces, solo los pacientes inmunodeprimidos tenían acceso. La decisión se apoyaba en prometedores ensayos clínicos, pero faltaban datos reales. Ahora existen.
Los epidemiólogos analizaron lo ocurrido en 2024: entre los octogenarios vacunados se registraron 202 casos por cada 100.000 personas; entre los no vacunados de la misma edad, 1.705. Una reducción del 88 por ciento que, según Jaime Pérez, responsable del servicio de prevención y promoción de la salud, coincide exactamente con lo que predecían los ensayos clínicos. La inversión pública queda justificada.
Sin embargo, el dato que ensombrece el éxito es la baja participación: solo el 31 % de los octogenarios y el 36 % de los sexagenarios elegibles se vacunaron. En 2024 se evitaron 109 casos de herpes zóster, un sufrimiento real y concreto que no ocurrió. Pero la aritmética es implacable: con una cobertura mayor, miles de casos más podrían haberse prevenido.
Con la evidencia ya consolidada, las autoridades sanitarias de Murcia tienen ahora un objetivo claro: lograr que más personas acudan a vacunarse. La ciencia ha demostrado que la herramienta funciona. El siguiente paso depende de cada uno.
Murcia has become the first region in Spain to measure what a shingles vaccine actually does when you give it to thousands of elderly people. The results are striking enough that health officials are now scrambling to figure out why so few people are taking it.
The story begins with a simple fact: half of all people who reach 80 will get shingles. It's not a minor rash. The virus, which lies dormant in anyone who's ever had chickenpox, reactivates as a painful eruption that can leave people with chronic, debilitating pain for months or years. As people age, their immune systems weaken, and the virus finds its opening. In recent years, cases have been climbing.
In 2023, Murcia's health authorities began offering the Shingrix vaccine to people turning 65. A year later, they expanded it to those turning 80. Before that, the vaccine had been reserved only for people with compromised immune systems. The decision to fund it broadly came after clinical trials showed promise, but real-world data was scarce. Now it exists.
Epidemiologists in Murcia looked at what actually happened in 2024. Among vaccinated 80-year-olds, they found 202 cases of shingles per 100,000 people. Among unvaccinated people the same age, the rate was 1,705 per 100,000. That's an 88 percent reduction. Jaime Pérez, who heads the region's prevention and health promotion service, notes the findings align with what the clinical trials had predicted. The numbers validate the decision to spend public money on this vaccine.
But there's a catch. Only 31 percent of Murcia's 80-year-olds actually got vaccinated. Among those turning 65, uptake was slightly better at 36 percent. Health officials calculated that vaccination prevented 109 cases of shingles in 2024 across both age groups. That's real suffering avoided. But the math is brutal: if uptake had been higher, thousands more cases could have been prevented.
Jaime Pérez emphasizes what's at stake. Shingles isn't just uncomfortable. It can produce chronic pain so severe it leaves people unable to work, unable to move freely, unable to enjoy the years they've earned. For someone in their 80s, that matters. Quality of life isn't abstract.
With proof now in hand that the vaccine works, Murcia's health authorities have made increasing vaccination coverage a priority. They have the evidence. What they need now is for people to show up.
Notable Quotes
Half of all people reaching 80 will get shingles, and it's a disease with enormous impact on quality of life. It can produce chronic pain that's severely disabling.— Jaime Pérez, head of Murcia's prevention and health promotion service
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did it take until 2023 for Murcia to start vaccinating people against shingles if the vaccine existed before?
The vaccine was there, but it was expensive and reserved for people whose immune systems were already failing. Expanding it to everyone over 65 was a policy choice—a decision that this disease was common enough and painful enough to justify the cost.
And the 88 percent reduction—is that the vaccine's effectiveness, or is it something else?
It's real-world effectiveness. In the clinic, the vaccine showed promise. In Murcia in 2024, it prevented eight out of nine cases. That's the vaccine working in actual people's lives.
But only a third of people got it. Why would someone refuse a vaccine that prevents a painful disease?
People don't always know they're at risk. Shingles doesn't feel like an emergency the way flu or COVID does. You don't see it coming. And if you've never had it, you might not understand how bad it can be.
So the 109 cases prevented—that's the floor, not the ceiling?
Exactly. If everyone who was eligible had gotten vaccinated, the number would have been much higher. We're looking at preventable suffering that didn't get prevented, simply because people didn't take the shot.
What happens next?
Health authorities are trying to figure out how to reach people. They have the data now. The question is whether they can convince people to care about a disease they think won't happen to them.