Investigators from Harvard Medical School Report New Data on Herpes Zoster Virus (Effectiveness of the Recombinant Zoster Vaccine In Adult Patients With Multiple Sclerosis: a Claims-based Retrospective Cohort Study In the United States): Herpesvirus Diseases and Conditions – Herpes Zoster Virus

2026 SEP 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Vaccine Daily -- Current study results on Herpesvirus Diseases and Conditions - Herpes Zoster Virus have been published. According to news originating from Boston, Massachusetts, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “To assess vaccine effectiveness (VE) of the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) in adults with multiple sclerosis (MS). This retrospective study included adults aged >= 18 years with MS insured by Medicare or one of seven United States (US) commercial health insurers from January 2018 to September 2023.”

Financial support for this research came from GlaxoSmithKline.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Harvard Medical School, “Adults receiving two RZV doses >= 28 days apart were matched with four or less unvaccinated comparators on insurer, sex, and age. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of incident herpes zoster (HZ) >= 31 days after the second RZV dose were estimated using Cox models with inverse probability of treatment weighting applied to the matched cohorts to balance potential confounders. VE was calculated as (1 - HR) & times; 100. The Medicare cohort included 8705 vaccinated and 34,407 unvaccinated patients; the commercially insured cohort included 6025 vaccinated and 22,685 unvaccinated patients. Most patients in both cohorts were aged >= 50 years. Crude HZ incidence in unvaccinated patients was 13.7 and 12.7/1000 person-years in the Medicare and commercially insured cohorts, while crude incidence among vaccinated patients was 4.6 and 2.4/1000 person-years. Weighted analyses demonstrated VE of 64% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 51%-74%) in Medicare and 81% (95% CI: 70%-88%) in commercially insured patients.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “RZV demonstrated robust VE, preventing 64%-81% of HZ cases in this MS population predominantly aged 50 years or older.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Effectiveness of the Recombinant Zoster Vaccine In Adult Patients With Multiple Sclerosis: a Claims-based Retrospective Cohort Study In the United States. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 2026. Multiple Sclerosis Journal can be contacted at: Sage Publications Ltd, 1 Olivers Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1SP, England. (Sage Publications - http://www.sagepub.com/; Multiple Sclerosis Journal - msj.sagepub.com)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Sheryl A. Kluberg, Harvard Medical School, Dept. of Population Medicine, Boston, MA 02115, United States. Additional authors for this research include Sophie E. Mayer, O’Mareen Spence, Driss Oraichi, Harry Seifert, Omar Ali, Huifeng Yun, Andrew L. Simon, Jenice S. Ko, Caroline Hugh, Meg Her, Kathleen Shattuck, Aziza Jamal-Allial, Djeneba Audrey Djibo, Cheryl N. McMahill-Walraven, Kimberly Daniels, Qianli Ma, Mano Selvan, Rachel P. Ogilvie, Najat J. Ziyadeh, Kristin Palmsten, Shamik Bhattacharyya, Alexis Ogdie and Michael George.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1177/13524585261468620. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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