A group of eight Florida patients have filed a shingles vaccine lawsuit, claiming the new Zostavax vaccine causes shingles instead of prevents it.

Plaintiffs Julius W. Carolyn S., Debra M., Elaine M., Frank R., Kenneth S., Joann L., and Linda C. filed a shingles vaccine lawsuit claiming that the Zostavax vaccine, designed to prevent the development of shingles, actually causes patients to develop the disease.

The plaintiffs allege that the vaccine contained a form of the disease that was more potent than that in other vaccines, and that Merck, the makers of the vaccine, did not sufficiently research the effects of the potent virus on patients before releasing Zostavax into the market.

This shingles vaccine lawsuit is the latest in a number of lawsuits aiming to hold Merck accountable for patients allegedly developing shingles after being inoculated with the new Zostavax vaccine. The patients seek damages for the injury they suffered as a result of using the allegedly dangerous and ineffective vaccine.

The eight patients claim that they developed shingles after being inoculated with Zostavax and that they had not had shingles before being inoculated.

About the Zostavax Shingles Vaccine

Vaccines work by introducing a person’s immune system to a small, harmless amount of a virus so that the body can recognize the virus and fight it off if it encounters it in full force. In most vaccines, a dead version of the virus is used to acquaint a patient’s immune system to a virus.

In some cases, a weakened though living form the virus is used instead of a dead virus. This is called an attenuated virus. The benefits of creating a vaccine with an attenuated virus is that the attenuated virus is stronger than a dead one, so a person’s immune system will have to develop a stronger defense against an attenuated virus than a dead one, thus strengthening a patient’s ability to fight of the full-fledged form of the disease in the future.

Zostavax uses an attenuated form of the shingles virus. However, the drawback to using an attenuated virus instead of a dead one is that the virus can strengthen. If a virus is not weakened enough, it is called “under attenuated.” An under attenuated virus can continue to strengthen when used as a vaccine and can cause a patient to develop the disease that the vaccine is intended to prevent.

The Florida patients in the latest Zostavax shingles vaccine lawsuit argue that such was the case with the Zostavax vaccine.

The patients allege that the virus used in the Zostavax vaccine was especially strong and therefore carried a high risk of causing patients to develop the disease. Additionally, the patients claim that Merck knew or should have known that the vaccine could cause patients to get sick and marketed the vaccine nonetheless, and knowingly profited off of a dangerous vaccine.

The Florida Zostavax Shingles Vaccine Lawsuit is Case No. 0:18-cv-61692-CMA, in the U.S. Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit for Broward County, Florida.