updated July 10, 2026
This information is current as of the date of original publication or update but may have changed by the time you read this. Do not use this information for diagnosis or treatment purposes. Before making health decisions, discuss with a qualified healthcare professional.
I think I am officially “older”. I qualify for Medicare and have reached my full retirement age. I receive the senior discount at restaurants. I remember many events that younger people have only heard about.
I find many advantages to having reached this age and in this article from KFF Health News I learned about more. The vaccines I have received to prevent infections may also protect me from cardiovascular disease and dementia.
I’m sharing this information with you here now, courtesy of KFF Health News.
Vaccines Are Helping Older People More Than We Knew
by Paula Span, January 14, 2026
Let’s be clear: The primary reason to be vaccinated against shingles is that two shots provide at least 90% protection against a painful, blistering disease that a third of Americans will suffer in their lifetimes, one that can cause lingering nerve pain and other nasty long-term consequences.
The most important reason for older adults to be vaccinated against the respiratory infection RSV is that their risk of being hospitalized with it declines by almost 70% in the year they get the shot, and by nearly 60% over two years.
And the main reason to roll up a sleeve for an annual flu, influenza, shot is that when people do get infected, it also reliably reduces the severity of illness. However, its effectiveness varies by how well scientists have predicted which strain of influenza shows up.
Off-Target Benefits
I rolled up my sleeve for a COVID vaccination.
Yet too many older adults, whose weakening immune systems and high rates of chronic illness put them at higher risk of infectious diseases, have not taken advantage of vaccination.
Benefit for Heart Disease Prevention
Lowered rates of cardiovascular hospitalizations and stroke did not reach statistical significance, however. That may reflect a short follow-up period or inadequate diagnostic testing, cautioned Helen Chu, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Washington and co-author of an accompanying editorial in JAMA.
“I don’t think RSV behaves differently from flu,” Chu said. “It’s just too early to have the information for RSV, but I think it will show the same effect, maybe even more so.”
Possible Dementia Prevention?
Probably the most provocative findings concern vaccination against shingles, aka herpes zoster. Researchers made headlines last year when they documented an association between shingles vaccination and lower rates of dementia — even with the less effective vaccine that has since been replaced by Shingrix, approved in 2017.
Nearly all studies of off-target benefits are observational, because scientists cannot ethically withhold a safe, effective vaccine from a control group whose members could then become infected with the disease.
That means such studies are subject to “healthy volunteer bias,” because vaccinated patients may also practice other healthy habits, differentiating them from those not vaccinated.
Although researchers try to control for a variety of potentially confounding differences, from age and sex to health and education, “we can only say there’s a strong association, not a cause and effect,” Maggi said.
But Stanford researchers seized on a natural experiment in Wales in 2013, when the first shingles vaccine, Zostavax, became available to older people who had not yet turned 80. Anyone who was 80 and older was ineligible.
Over seven years, dementia rates in participants who had been eligible for vaccination declined by 20% — even though only half had actually received the vaccine — compared with those who narrowly missed the cutoff.
“There are no reasons people born one week before were different from those born a few days later,” Maggi said. Studies in Australia and the United States have also found reductions in the odds of dementia following shingles shots.
In fact, in the meta-analysis Maggi and her team published, several other childhood and adult vaccinations appeared to have such effects.
“We now know that many infections are associated with the onset of dementia, both Alzheimer’s and vascular,” she said.
In 21 studies involving more than 104 million participants in Europe, Asia, and North America, vaccination against shingles was associated with a 24% reduction in the risk of developing dementia. Flu vaccination was linked to a 13% reduction. Those vaccinated against pneumococcal disease had a 36% reduction in Alzheimer’s risk.
The Tdap vaccine against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough) is recommended for adults every 10 years, with vaccination among older adults often prompted by the birth of a grandchild, who cannot be fully vaccinated for months. It was associated with a one-third decline in dementia.
Other researchers are investigating the effects of shingles vaccination on heart attacks and stroke and of COVID vaccination on cancer survival.
Preventing Damage from Chronic Inflammation
What causes such vaccine bonuses? Most hypotheses focus on the inflammation that arises when the immune system mobilizes to fight off an infection. “You have damage to the surrounding environment in the body, and that takes time to calm down,” Chu said.
The effects of inflammation can far outlast the initial illness. It may allow other infections to take hold, or cause heart attacks and strokes when clots form in narrowed blood vessels. “If you prevent the infection, you prevent this other damage,” Chu said.
Hospitalization itself, during which older patients can become deconditioned or develop delirium, is a risk factor for dementia, among other health problems. Vaccines that reduce hospitalization might therefore delay or ward off cognitive decline.
Will Anti-Vaccine Public Policy Cause Missed Vaccinations in Adults?
Health officials in the Trump administration have assailed childhood vaccines more than adult ones, but their vocal opposition may be contributing to inadequate vaccination among older Americans, too.
Many will not only miss out on the emerging off-target benefits but will remain vulnerable to the diseases the vaccines prevent or diminish.
“The current national policy on vaccination is at best uncertain, and in instances appears anti-vaccine,” said Schaffner, a former member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. “All of us in public health are very, very distressed.”
This story also ran in The New York Times
Shared without charge under a Creative Commons License by KFF Health News.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
What does this mean for you?
Whether you are already an “older” adult or on your way, this information is worth considering.
Before reading this article, what did you think about the value of immunization?
How will you use this information now in making decisions about your use of immunization to protect your health?
What additional information do you need to feel confident in your decision?
I suggest you discuss your concerns with your personal physician. Also, here are some sites that offer evidence-based information.
From KFF
How Does the Federal Government Monitor Vaccine Safety?
from the FDA
Vaccines
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