Two groups of plaintiffs involved in Zostavax lawsuits have submitted motions to consolidate litigation in a multicounty (MCL) litigation. Consolidation would mean that all state-filed Zostavax lawsuits in New Jersey would be brought into one court. By bringing these Zostavax lawsuits together for pre-trial proceedings, MCL consolidation would help conserve resources, avoid potentially conflicting rulings, and prevent duplicative discovery.

One of the groups of Zostavax lawsuits involves 285 individual plaintiffs, who all allege that the shingles vaccine Zostavax led to serious injuries. The application for MCL consolidation noted that, “as a result of the high degree of commonality of injuries and damages exhibited by the plaintiffs, coordinated discovery would be advantageous and would promote convenience and fairness to all parties to these cases.”

The other group of Zostavax lawsuits includes more than 500 individual plaintiffs, who allege that they suffered from injuries including shingles, eye disorders, meningitis, and encephalitis. The similarity of injuries led to the filing for consolidation.

According to all of these Zostavax lawsuits, the manufacturers failed to provide adequate warnings about the risks linked with its vaccine.

Background of Zostavax

Zostavax was introduced to the market in May 2006 with its approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Zostavax is manufactured by Merck and approved to prevent shingles (herpes zoster) in patients 60 and up. Essentially, Zostavax is a stronger version of Merck’s chickenpox vaccine, Varivax.

Unfortunately, the use of the Zostavax vaccine has been associated with serious and even dangerous complications.

Zostavax Side Effects

Any medication will come with certain side effects, and Zostavax is no exception. Zostavax includes warnings of shingles vaccine injuries like headaches, fever, joint pain, and nausea. However, patients have also reported major side effects after use of Zostavax that were not initially included in the warnings, including blindness, paralysis, brain damage, and death. Since then, the FDA has updated the drug’s warnings to include vision damage from eye inflammation.

Zostavax shingles vaccine injuries usually appear between zero and 6 months after the vaccine is administered, though long-term injuries like neurological damage are also possible.

One lawsuit over shingles vaccine injuries alleges that hundreds of serious adverse event reports have been filed over Zostavax side effects, including dozens of deaths.

“If the plaintiffs were equipped with the knowledge of the defective conditions and potential harms of the Zostavax vaccine, they would not have purchased it and agreed to have it injected into their body,” the shingles vaccine lawsuit claims.

Filing Zostavax Lawsuits

If you or someone you love have suffered from shingles vaccine injuries from the Zostavax vaccine, you may be able to join the growing number of Zostavax lawsuits being filed against Merck & Co. Filing a lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by these side effects, nor can it bring a loved one back to life, but it can help to alleviate the financial burden caused by medical expenses and lost wages.