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Comment by anonymouskimmer

2 years ago

The chickenpox vaccine absolutely decreases the chances of the people getting the vaccine of getting dementia. This has a side-effect of decreasing the exposure of older adults to new chickenpox infections, which increases their odds of developing shingles.[1]

But as long as those older adults are getting the shingle vaccine, their odds of getting dementia should reduce as well.

[1] - Intermittent infection with chickenpox boosts the adaptive immune response to the chronic chickenpox infection that most people who ever caught the disease have. This intermittent boosting helps prevent flareups of the chronic chickenpox infection (also known as shingles), which is likely the causative factor in chickenpox-related dementia. Alternatively, instead of getting intermittently infected with chickenpox, they could just get a shingles vaccine instead to boost their immune response against their previously acquired chronic infection.

I presume that this intermittent exposure to chickenpox is greatest in adults with children (and grandchildren). Possibly explaining the decrease in dementia for older people with adult children: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235282732...

> Having 3+ children, adult daughter(s), or biological children was associated with lower risk of cognitive impairment.

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anonymouskimmer

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anonymouskimmer  2 years ago

> The chickenpox vaccine absolutely decreases the chances of the people getting the vaccine of getting dementia.

I'm a bit too certain with this phrasing. This should be theoretically the case given that vaccination decreases the odds of getting a chronic herpes zoster infection.

tempfortwitt90  2 years ago

Does it lower it compared to not getting the virus nor the vaccine?

Seat belts lower car accident deaths. But not lower than simply not driving. Isn't this a similar example?

  • anonymouskimmer  2 years ago

    Never getting the virus is always better. The chickenpox vaccine helps prevent chronic viral infection.

    Assuming you're asking about whether shingles vaccination is comparable to re-exposure.

    For the youth a vaccine should absolutely reduce the risk better than having a chronic infection to actively fight against when it flares up.

    For non-chickenpox-vaccinated adults, I have no clue. I would expect shingles vaccination would be comparable as it effectively does the same thing. But there might be an added response from other parts of the adaptive immune response against a viral invader.

    Regardless, with respect to the chickenpox vaccine, I think it's better to take a risk on the current middle-aged folks and elderly in favor of basically eliminating all of the risk for the young and future generations. Since this risk increase would be primarily for middle-aged folks and elderly who have children and grandchildren (as childless adults are already at increased risk from fewer re-exposure routes), I think it makes moral sense that they preference the health of their descendants over themselves.