Interesting. It was described to me as something to prevent shingles outbreaks in people who already had chicken pox as a child. Not sure what my risk of encountering Herpes Zoster as an adult might be, though. I’ll have to find out if is somehow more likely than measles, mumps, and other childhood diseases.
Edit - here’s an article on the risks: Well - The New York Times
From the article: Between 75 - 90% of chickenpox cases occur in children under 10 years of age. Before the introduction of the vaccine, about 4 million cases of chickenpox were reported in the U.S. each year. Since a varicella vaccine became available in the U.S. in 1995, however, the incidence of disease and hospitalizations due to chickenpox has declined by nearly 90%…
…Anyone who has had chickenpox has risk for shingles later in life, which means that 90% of adults in the U.S. are at risk for shingles. Shingles occurs, however, in 10 - 20% of these adults over the course of their lives, so certain factors must exist to increase the risk for such outbreaks.
