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The childhood varicella vaccine was introduced in the United States in 1995, so people born from that time on are the first group to reach adulthood with the vaccine’s protection against chickenpox. Additionally, those vaccinated against chickenpox carry a lower risk of later developing shingles caused by the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus. A new study of more than 85 million U.S. adults found substantial differences in shingles diagnoses across birth cohorts, with the sharpest decline in diagnoses occurring among those adults who were first eligible for routine childhood chickenpox vaccination. Researchers at Epic Research analyzed patient records from 2019 through June 2026 and found that shingles diagnoses dropped 62% between those born in 1991–1995 (before the vaccine) and those born in 1996–2000 (after the vaccine was introduced). Generally, older adults were much more likely to have received a shingles diagnosis during the study period than younger adults. Among those born in 1968–1975, approximately 182 of every 10,000 patients (1.82%) were diagnosed with shingles. Among adults born in 2006–2008, approximately 7 of every 10,000 patients (0.07%) were diagnosed with shingles. And women generally had higher rates of shingles diagnoses than men in the older age groups.
Common diagnosis: Researchers conclude that the decline in shingles diagnoses among younger adults likely reflects the growing proportion who received childhood chickenpox vaccination, although individual vaccination histories were not examined in the study. About 1 in 3 people in the United States will develop shingles in their lifetime, and approximately 1–4% of people with shingles are hospitalized for complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.