A class action investigation has launched against Merck & Co. after injury reports indicated patients suffered serious shingles vaccine adverse effects.

This investigation has already spurred legal action by a Florida woman alleging she experienced shingles vaccine adverse effects. This reaction reportedly occurred not long after the injection, as has allegedly been the case for other patients.

Plaintiff Joye K. alleges she will most likely continue to experience shingles vaccine adverse effects, and that the vaccine was unreasonably dangerous to patents. According to the Zostavax lawsuit, Joye had the shingles vaccine implemented in April 2016 to prevent the late age disease.

This is a normal healthcare procedure recommended by physicians to patients over the age of 50, with Merck providing patients and healthcare professions an information sheet detailing several side effects that can be experienced.

The Zostavax vaccine is designed to work with the immune system to help prevent the onset of shingles, which is thought to be a dormant form of chickenpox that resides in the body’s nervous system for years.

The patient information sheet described a number of shingle vaccine adverse effects including fever, joint pain, muscle pain, nausea, and even chickenpox or shingles after the vaccine. However, much more severe shingles vaccine adverse effects have been reported, with Joye reportedly being one of these patients.

According to the Zostavax lawsuit, Joye had contracted a persistent strain of herpes zoster soon after receiving the shingles vaccine. Joye reportedly developed throbbing pain and blisters on her lower back and legs and continues to suffer from these developments.

Joye alleges Merck had failed to warn her against these severe shingles vaccine adverse effects, which was allegedly caused by a live virus that is too strong for certain patients.

Overview of Zostavax Shingles Vaccine Complications

The severe shingles vaccine adverse effects reported to the FDA included incidents of blindness, paralysis, brain damage, and death, with patients reportedly developing these reactions within zero to six months of having the shot implemented.

The FDA’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) had received additional reports of gastrointestinal issues, rashes, arthralgia, myalgia, anaphylactic reactions, and necrotizing retinitis.

These injury reports spurred the FDA to require the addition of two black box warning statements to the Zostavax warning labels, with a 2016 update explaining the label to include potential vision loss from eye inflammation. At this time, Zostavax is the only vaccine approved to prevent shingles in the United States and is prescribed to numerous patients on a daily basis.

According to the CDC, there are approximately one million cases of shingles diagnosed per year with half of these patients being over the age of 60. While the CDC states the shingles vaccine reduce the risk of the disease by over half, but the vaccine reduces in effect as the patient gets older.

Given how common shingles is, the serious shingles vaccine adverse effects has spurred major concern in the medical community and patient population. Joye alleges that at all times relevant, she and her physician had relied on the information provided by Merck and had no reason to be wary against serious shingles vaccine adverse effects.

This Zostavax Lawsuit is Case No. 6:18-cv-00604-RBD-TBS, in the U.S. District Court of Middle Florida, Orlando Division.