Do shingles vaccines reduce heart disease risk?

Peter McCullough says they don’t.

• McCullough treats the study’s limits as proof that its findings are false.
• He wrongly suggests that short-term vaccine inflammation is the same as harmful, long-term inflammation.
• The study found a real link between Shingrix and fewer heart problems, although more research is needed.

Peter McCullough points out some real limits of the study. It used medical records instead of a clinical trial, and the researchers could not account for every difference between the two groups. This means the study cannot prove that Shingrix prevents heart disease. However, these limits do not mean the study is false or “misinformation.”

The researchers compared more than 72,000 older adults who received either Shingrix or the older shingles vaccine. They matched the groups based on 83 health and personal factors. People who received Shingrix had fewer diagnoses of heart disease and heart failure. The researchers also ran several tests to look for other explanations. The results remained similar, although some unknown differences between the groups could still have affected them.

McCullough also argues that the vaccine causes inflammation and therefore cannot protect the heart. However, the short-term immune response a vaccine causes is not the same as the long-lasting inflammation linked to heart disease. Shingles itself can cause inflammation and has been linked to heart attacks and strokes. Preventing shingles may therefore help protect the heart.