People with dementia who received a shingles vaccine were significantly less likely to die from dementia than those who didn’t get the shot, according to findings of a large study, suggesting the vaccine could slow progression of the disease.

Overall, nearly half of the more than 14,000 seniors in Wales who had dementia at the start of the vaccination program died from dementia during nine years of follow-up.

But receipt of Merck’s MRK.N Zostavax vaccine lowered the risk of death from dementia by nearly 30 percentage points, researchers reported in Cell.

Earlier this year, researchers in Wales had found that older adults who received the Zostavax vaccine were 20% less likely to develop dementia in the first place, compared to similar seniors who did not receive the vaccine.

“The most e

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