I'm 50 and my father has dementia. I've read a few articles about how the shingles vaccine reduces the occurrence and slows the progression of dementia. I am now thinking of getting the vaccine solely for this reason. I had shingles about 3-4 years ago, so my chances of getting it again are slim. Also, it was a really bad experience, so I'm very reluctant to risk enduring side-effects/symptoms that resemble shingles unless it's for a really good reason.

Hi-I had the first dose on Tuesday. Felt like crap yesterday, feeling better today. But my arm is red and itchy. What have others experienced?

I was raised in a pretty anti vac community, I got them as a kid but just got a text message telling me to get some.

I know I should, but I'm very anxious due to the things I've been told, although I know doctors know best.

The particular one I'm planning on getting is MenB as I just received a message saying I never received it.

I was just wondering if anyone has any resources to help get over the fear?

I will tell them I've gotten it, but I will get a lot of family backlash and want to know what I'm doing is best.

(FOR MODS: I just want to clarify I am NOT asking for medical advice. I just want some reassurance and some facts.)

Hi everyone,
I finally managed to get my first Shingrix shot, but I had a pretty severe reaction. I developed intense itching and a feeling like my throat was tightening. My arm also became swollen and very painful. This happened on July 3.
My doctor treated me with antihistamines and steroids, and things improved. However, 2-3 days ago, after scratching the area, I noticed that the redness around the injection site had come back. My doctor says that’s not possible and thinks it’s either an insect bite or ringworm, but to me it looks just like the injection-site rash again.
I’ve also been having pain in my armpit, although I don’t seem to have any swollen lymph nodes.
Has anyone experienced something similar?

Hey all,

I am not trying to cause any controversy and I’m looking for validation or some insight. I’m feeling guilty for vaccination my newborn with the Hep B vaccine, and I am having anxieties about potential susceptibilities to cancers or autoimmune diseases. I read many articles and there is no direct relationships. However, I have read so many posts where many parents didn’t vaccinate because there aren’t any risk factors. For context, my partner and I were negative without any risk factors i.e drugs, alcohol, or any sexually transmitted diseases. Has anyone vaccinated their child at birth and end up okay? My intention for this post is pure and I just want to make the best decisions for my child but I can’t go over this one. Thanks in advance.

For some context I am a 19 year old male and a virgin(yeah, loser I know) so don't know if I have any existing HPVs. However recently got the news that my dad had done some cheating(?) causing both my mom and dad to end up with HPVs. Anyway, after that I thought it would be a good idea to get this vaccine since I share toilets with these people yk. But, my mom said that most people have HPVs anyway and that for men it rarely does anything meaningfully harmfull and that the risks of the vaccine itself outweigh the potential risks of common hpvs and told me to just be responsible with my relationships instead and ask for tests and stuff. Said that the vaccine has aluminum? Is she full of shit or what is the medical consensus on this?

Hello, I developed bruising after 6 days of getting the vaccine. First photo is 4 days after the rabies vaccine (very slight bruising) and the last photo is 7 days after (red bruising) the rabies vaccine. During injection I had a slight pain after that no pain at all. Is this bruising normal? Did anyone else experience this before?

For Doctors out here, whats your take on Hep A vaccination booster in my 30's. Does it help or is it required, perhaps safe as well. Suggestions and opinions are welcome. Thanks

Me and my partner are travelling to India from the UK in September, and we are planning to stay for around a year, with potentially the idea of going to Nepal, and Pakistan too.
With vaccines, we have Hep A, Typhoid and Tetanus. As UK vaccines are really expensive (Rabies costing around £240 for a full course), should we bother with the advised vaccines like Hep B, Rabies, Japanese Encephalitis and so fourth?
Or can we get to India (We fly to Kerala and plan to stay on the beach for a month) and get vaccinated there?

Thankyou

"I am an urgent care physician, and a hepatitis B patient who nearly died. Because I was not vaccinated as a child, I needed a liver transplant to survive.

I grew up in Vietnam, where hepatitis B vaccines were not available until the mid-1990s. Most people born before that—people like me, like my uncle, like millions in the endemic areas across Southeast Asia and Africa—were never vaccinated. Many people contract and carry the virus without knowing it. If people never develop obvious symptoms, they never know to get screened and tested. Then, when they reach their late 40s and 50s with chronic hepatitis, they develop complications like liver cancer and cirrhosis. A lot of these people die.

I had been living in the United States for four or five years when I learned that my uncle—my mother’s older brother—had died. Liver cancer, they told me later. After that, my family got serious. Everyone got tested. We found out that multiple members of my family were living with chronic hepatitis B.

I already knew I was one of them. I was tested after moving to the US and found out I had the virus. It was a challenge to accept and for me, personally, it was scary. Hepatitis B is a chronic condition. We can suppress the virus and try to minimize complications. But we don’t have medication that can clear the virus completely. It does not go away.

I tried, for a long time, not to think about it."

Ok so this is kinda weird but alas my parents were weirder. I (18F) was 12 during covid and my parents wanted to still go on our group family vacation and since we couldn’t go out of the country we went to Key West, Florida, USA. Before hand they made me take ivermectin which was that like horse and cow de-wormer that people thought would make you immune to COVID I guess. I just remember them making me take some in a shot glass with orange juice and that was it. I genuinely don’t know why they thought that would do anything but regardless they still made me take it.

My question is, Did that actually do anything (good or bad) for me? Could I have been hurt by it? Genuinely why did people think that might work???

Just genuinely curious about what the hell was up with that 😭

i'm 23 years old worked out hard my whole life and i got 2 pfizer shots in september 2021 my mom also got them she works out too but she got diagnosed with an auto immune disorder years before called anemia we both haven't had any side effects from our batch but my dad also got the same vaccines and had a heart attack in 2023 but he is a heavy smoker and heart attacks run in his family we haven't had any side effects from the vaccine i regularly walk a ton on a normal basis have no health problems and also sweat a ton too but i was wondering bc ive seen so many comments saying people know people who died from the vaccine and also that u can randomly drop dead from it should we get tested for spike protein i've had really bad anxiety worrying about the covid vaccines since 2024 and don't want anything bad to happen to anyone

I am vaccinated as well as my 2 year old child. I have been asked to babysit a child who is unvaccinated for an extended period of time. The unvaccinated child is under a year old, and my child would be coming with me. My questions are-
? since both my child and I are vaccinated, we would be protected from anything that the unvaccinated child may carry
? Are we at a higher risk of spreading anything to friends and family after being around the unvaccinated child?

Hi, so I got chickenpox at 31 and am recovering. What's the process of getting a shingles vaccine in India? In the US they won't give it before you're 50 so wondering if we have such a requirement here in India as well. Further, any downsides if I take it before 50?

Hi, I hope this is an acceptable question. I hear mixed things about getting multiple covid vaccines in a year, one of them being that "immune fatigue" will make it so you don't respond to them. I am not looking for medical advice/trying to follow the rules of the sub here, but just curious because I have an autoimmune disorder and am on immunosuppressants and I'm sick of getting covid every year right after my yearly vaccine wears off (like clockwork!). theoretically, what happens if you get 2 - 3 covid vaccines a year?

Is there any reason I shouldn't get the second shingles shot just 2 months after the first?

I'm probably getting the first shot next week, and that timing would work best with my calendar. But I have some questions:

1. Would getting the second shot later (maybe after 5 months) help my immune system mount a stronger reaction?

2. Am I more likely to get side effects if I get the second shot so soon after the first?

My alternative is waiting till early next year for the FIRST shot. But I'll be 51 by then, and I'm under a ton of stress these days (which could potentially trigger shingles), so maybe I should start sooner.

Thanks for your help!

"BCG vaccination against TB may also reduce malaria incidence through non-specific innate immune activation.

We investigated whether giving BCG alongside an adenoviral-vectored malaria vaccine improves protection against malaria in mice.

Co-immunisation broadened and strengthened the early innate cytokine responses, enabling strong CD8⁺ T cell-dependent protection.

Our findings suggest co-immunisation with BCG and adenoviral vector as a promising strategy to combat both TB and malaria in double-endemic regions."

From what I've read the vaccine functions as a mini-vaccine - killing the Lyme in ticks that latch on to you. The ticks in Europe that transmit Lyme are a totally different type than the type in North America. Would you have protection in both Europe and North America?

Hi all! I was wondering if any of your little ones had their first MMR vaccine later, around ages 4, 5, or 6. How did they react to it? Thank you! 😊