Don’t recall having chickenpox? Get shingles vaccine anyway

Dear Dr. Roach: I am almost 88 years old. All seven of my children came down with chickenpox at different times. I took care of them all, and never contracted the virus. I didn’t have it as a child or as an adult. Should I get the shingles vaccine? I have lupus and thyroid disease. I don’t need to take medication for either of them anymore. I have had my yearly flu shot with no problems, and I take the double senior dose.

I have been on self-quarantine going on nine months to avoid the coronavirus. I am in good health. What are my chances of ever getting shingles? Is there a blood test I could take, that would tell me if I ever had chickenpox and didn’t know it? — T.E.

Dear T.E.: It is almost a certainty that you had chickenpox, probably as a small child, when occasionally the symptoms are so mild they are not recognized. Given the number of exposures you had, you would have come down with chickenpox if you had not been immune from previous exposure.

Shingles comes not from exposure to chickenpox, but from a reappearance of the dormant virus, often at a time when the immune system is weaker. This can be at times of stress, or just as we get older. At age 88, you are at relatively high risk, and if you got shingles, you are at high risk for complications.

Although there is a blood test to determine whether you were ever exposed, in my opinion, and according to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you don’t need it. I’d recommend you get the shingles vaccine as soon as convenient.