{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T04:30:43Z","timestamp":1786595443494,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786579200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Herpes zoster causes substantial morbidity in older adults, and US herpes zoster vaccination shifted from the live-attenuated Zostavax to the recombinant Shingrix after 2017 We describe the post-marketing adverse-event profile of these vaccines reported to the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and identify events reported disproportionately for herpes zoster vaccines.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In a descriptive cross-sectional design, we analyzed 69,822 US VAERS reports listing a herpes zoster vaccine, received 1 January 2017\u201325 April 2024. Reports were characterized by demographics, brand, MedDRA preferred terms and system organ classes, and US FDA serious-event indicators; brand subgroups were summarized descriptively. Reporting odds ratios (RORs) with 95% confidence intervals compared the combined herpes zoster vaccine cohort with all other US VAERS reports. Reporting followed the STROBE guideline.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Shingrix accounted for 58,813 (84.2%) reports and Zostavax for 10,507 (15.0%). Reports were predominantly in women (63.9%) and adults aged 50\u201369 years (median age 64.0 years). Reactogenic and injection-site terms predominated\u2014pyrexia (18.3%), pain (17.8%), chills (15.9%), headache (15.4%), and injection-site pain (14.2%). Against all other US reports, injection-site and influenza-like reactions were modestly enriched (e.g., injection-site pain ROR 2.92), whereas vesicular rash was strongly over-reported (ROR 43.70); the latter was concentrated in live-vaccine reports and reflects reported vaccine-strain disease rather than an unexpected adverse reaction. Serious reports comprised 6.6% of the cohort (2.9% Shingrix, 27.6% Zostavax).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Eight years of VAERS data are consistent with the recognized reactogenicity of the recombinant vaccine and the live-vaccine profile of Zostavax; most reported events were transient and non-serious. These hypothesis-generating disproportionality signals require confirmation in active surveillance with denominator data.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2026.1920596","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T04:24:14Z","timestamp":1786595054000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Safety profile of herpes zoster vaccines in the United States: a descriptive and disproportionality analysis of adverse events reported to the vaccine adverse event reporting system (VAERS), 2017\u20132024"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Mohammed","family":"Alkharaiji","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Saudi Electronic University","place":["Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Salahaden R.","family":"Sultan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiologic Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University","place":["Jeddah, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yousif A.","family":"Kariri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Shaqra University","place":["Shaqra, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Saleh","family":"Alzughaibi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Informatics, College of Health Sciences, Saudi Electronic University","place":["Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ahmed","family":"Hazazi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Saudi Electronic University","place":["Riyadh, Saudi 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