A new Zostavax lawsuit filed by a plaintiff that came down with shingles after vaccine administration was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on Nov. 2, 2018.

The complainant, plaintiff Florence R., is a citizen and resident of the State of Florida who has named the Merck & Co., Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., and McKesson Corp. as defendants in her legal complaint due to problems with shingles after vaccine receipt.

Florence alleges that the defendants all had a part in bringing the Zostavax vaccine to the commercial marketplace in the capacities of research, development, manufacturing, distribution, and promotion.

She claims that, although the shot is advertised as a preventative agent against Herpes Zoster—also known as shingles—she broke out with shingles after vaccine administration.

Common Chicken Pox and The Shingles

A once common childhood illness, the chicken pox is caused by a virus known as Varicella-Zoster, according to the lawsuit narrative.

While there is now a preventative vaccine for chicken pox, the vast majority of current adults were exposed to and had an outbreak of chicken pox when they were children. The virus remains in the body in a latent state thereafter, gathering around the sensory neurons of dorsal root and cranial nerve ganglia.

As the body ages or experiences significant stressors such as disease states or life changes and challenges, the virus can move out of dormancy expressing itself as Herpes Zoster, a rashy outbreak of red blisters often occurring in patches on the head, neck, and torso.

These outbreaks are typically very painful and can last for several weeks at a time. It was for these outbreaks that Zostavax was created, but many are complaining of developing painful shingles after the vaccine is given to them.

The development of shingles comes with some potentially serious backlashes such as injuries to the eyes, hearing loss, scarring, and superinfections. Those that have experienced shingles after vaccine administration has often found themselves in a lot of pain and at higher risk for problems they sought to prevent.

The Zostavax Vaccine

The Zostavax vaccine is a live-attenuated vaccine, according to Florence’s lawsuit. This means it contains the chicken pox virus in a less potent form. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2006 for the prevention of shingles in adults.

Live virus vaccines like Zostavax can cause shingles after vaccine if the virus is not weakened enough over the course of its shelf life. Overly weakened live virus vaccines don’t offer the protection from the disease promoted in advertisements.

Zostavax is geared for recipients aged 60 plus with supposed protective powers against shingles for five years. Although it was later approved for a younger age group of people in their fifties, it is still not ideally recommended for them by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Zostavax problems were noted by the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System in which 1,000 events were documented by 2015. In the case of the plaintiff, Florence was administered with Zostavax on Sept. 4, 2016, and experienced shingles after vaccine administration by Sept. 20.

She brings several causes of action against the defendants, allegations of negligence, design and manufacturing defects, and failure to warn potential patients of Zostavax side effects.

The Shingles After Vaccine Lawsuit is Case No. 8:18-cv-02704-WFJ-CPT in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.