A new Merck shingles lawsuit was filed in the Court of Common Pleas for of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania on April 2, 2018. The complainant in the case, Etta L., is holding not only Merck & Co. Inc. liable but also the McKesson Corp.

These defendants developed, designed, and marketed the vaccine known as Zostavax for the prevention of the shingles virus which is related to chicken pox.

Etta, a citizen and resident of Pittsburgh, Penn., alleges in the Merck shingles lawsuit that she was injured and suffers as a result of being the recipient of a dangerous vaccine.

She was inoculated with Zostavax as a preventative measure against shingles during a doctor’s visit on Oct. 20, 2008. This vaccine administration was supposed to be part of a total preventative health maintenance regimen.

Etta claims in the Merck shingles lawsuit that the vaccine caused rather than prevented Herpes Zoster which is also known as the shingles virus. She alleges she received treatment for a rash on March 1, 2016, at St. Clair Hospital in Pittsburgh.

Also present with the rash were symptoms indicating that her immune system was functioning at a less than optimal level, she says. She was diagnosed with a severe case of shingles during this hospital presentation.

The Merck shingles lawsuit claims that Etta has suffered a great deal of pain as a result of this diagnosis and will continue to do so in the future. Additionally, she has been saddled with the cost of former and ongoing medical care for an illness the Zostavax vaccine developed by defendants was intended to stop.

Shingles is an outbreak of essentially the same virus which causes chickenpox. The virus remains dormant in the nervous system for several years following the typical childhood contraction pattern, according to the factual section of the Merck shingles lawsuit.

In adulthood, the virus can be reactivated by stressful psychological or living conditions, a state of bodily disease, the aging process, or immune system compromise. Reactivation of Herpes Zoster starts a process of nerve axon swelling that ends in the eruption of a rash on the skin which can be extremely painful to live with until it subsides.

In this case, plaintiff Etta L. is seeking a judgment against the defendants for allegedly developing and promoting a product that was allegedly not only ineffective but dangerous. She hopes for a positive judgment on her behalf with a compensatory award that takes into consideration her pain and suffering as well as all monies spent for medical treatment and litigation.

The History of Zostavax

Zostavax was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2006 based upon the Shingles Prevention Study (SPS) sponsored by Merck. The SPS discovered that the risk of Herpes Zoster reactivation increased as individuals aged.

The Zostavax vaccine was made largely to address the need for prevention in the senior population and is comprised of live Herpes Zoster virus. The vaccine has allegedly had the virulence reduced in a process called attenuation.

The Merck Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-00419-DSC in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.