Could the shingles vaccine help you live a healthier life as you age?
Researchers are getting closer to answering that question, with a new study offering evidence that the vaccine may not just protect against the painful viral shingles illness — but that it may also support a longer “health span” by slowing biological aging.
“Vaccines may do more than prevent acute infections. Our findings suggest the shingles vaccine may support healthier aging by slowing some underlying biological processes tied to aging,” says the study author Jung Ki Kim, PhD, a research assistant professor of gerontology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
How Different Aspects of Biological Aging Are Measured
Researchers analyzed health data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study, which included information from more than 3,800 adults ages 70 and older in 2016. They measured seven different aspects of biological aging to come up with a composite biological aging score, including:
Inflammation
Innate immunity, the body’s natural defense system against infection
Adaptive immunity, the body’s learned defense system after exposure to vaccination or infection
Blood flow
Neurodegeneration, the deterioration of nerve cells in the brain
Epigenetic aging, changes in how genes are expressed (turned “off” or “on”)
Transcriptomic aging, gene responses that mark biological age
They found that people who received the shingles vaccine after age 60 showed evidence of slower biological aging on average, compared with those who were unvaccinated. This link remained even after accounting for race and ethnicity, income levels, and health differences between the two groups.
Why Would the Shingles Vaccine Slow Biological Aging?
In the study, participants who got a shingles vaccine had significantly lower markers of inflammation and slower epigenetic and transcriptomic aging, along with a lower composite biological aging score.
Biological aging reflects how well your body is functioning, not just how old you are in years, Dr. Kim explains. “Two people the same age can have very different biological ages depending on inflammation, immune health, molecular, and other processes.”
Because chronic, low-level inflammation has been shown to contribute to age-related health conditions, some experts have coined the term “inflammaging,” or inflammation linked to aging — which vaccination appears to help combat.
“The virus that causes shingles may quietly reactivate and stress the immune system over time,” Kim says. “Vaccination may reduce that ongoing immune strain, helping the body age more slowly.”
The New Study Has Some Limitations
While the new findings add to a body of research on the effects of the shingles vaccine beyond infection prevention, the research does have limitations.
The researchers note it was observational in nature, so it can’t prove that the shingles vaccine slows biological aging, only that there appears to be a link. In addition, Kim says, the study participants were only measured at one point in time, and the older shingles vaccine (Zosatvax) was studied — not the newer version (Shingrix) in use today.
Michael Woodward, MD, a geriatrician and the head of aged care research at Austin Health in Australia, also points out that the study wasn’t randomized. That leaves open a question, he says: Does the shingles vaccine really slow biological aging, “or are we seeing that effect because people who are aging more biologically slowly may also be more socioeconomically advantaged, more motivated, more health aware?”
Other Potential Benefits of the Shingles Vaccine
Dr. Woodward notes that previous studies have connected the shingles vaccine with numerous improvements in health.
“There’s been surprising evidence linking shingles vaccination not just with its primary goal — which is preventing the reactivation of the shingles virus — but also having other effects such as on dementia and heart disease [risk],” says Woodward, who has researched the effects of vaccines on longevity but wasn’t involved in the current study.
Specifically, one recent study found that shingles vaccination reduces the odds of developing dementia by 20 percent over the following seven years. Other research has shown that people who received the shingles vaccine were 23 percent less likely to develop issues like heart attack, stroke, and atrial fibrillation than those who were unvaccinated.
Who Should Get the Shingles Vaccine
Shingles, or herpes zoster, is an infection caused by the varicella zoster virus — the same virus that causes chicken pox. The shingles vaccine, called Shingrix, is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for adults 50 and older, and adults 19 and older with a weakened immune system.
Woodward advises having a discussion with your healthcare provider about getting the shingles vaccine, along with other recommended immunizations.
“I don’t want all your readers who haven’t yet been vaccinated to rush out, get the shingles vaccination, and start planning for a Bahamas cruise at the age of 105, even though they’re only 60,” he says. But “I say to my patients that one of the best ways to promote health and to prevent disease is vaccination.”
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
Kim JK et al. Association Between Shingles Vaccination and Slower Biological Aging: Evidence from a U.S. Population-Based Cohort Study. Journals of Gerontology. January 20, 2026.
Meier HSC et al. Systemic inflammation and biological aging in the Health and Retirement Study. GeroScience. July 27, 2023.
Woodward M. Enhancing Longevity: The Additional Benefits of Vaccination in Older Adults. Microbiology Australia. October 28, 2024.
Emily Kay Votruba has copy edited and fact-checked for national magazines, websites, and books since 1997, including Self, GQ, Gourmet, Golf Magazine,Outside, Cornell University Press, Penguin Random House, and Harper's Magazine. Her projects have included cookbooks (Padma Lakshmi's Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet), self-help and advice titles (Mika Brzezinski's Know Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You're Worth), memoirs (Larry King's My Remarkable Journey), and science (Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Learn, by Cathy Davidson). She started freelancing for Everyday Health in 2016.
Cristina Mutchler is an award-winning journalist with more than a decade of experience covering health and wellness content for national outlets. She previous worked at CNN, Newsy, and the American Academy of Dermatology. A multilingual Latina and published bilingual author, Cristina has a master's degree in Journalism from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.
