Sponsored by:
Senator ROBERT W. SINGER
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator A.R.Bucco
SYNOPSIS
Encourages people fifty years and older to get shingles vaccine.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Senate Resolution encouraging people fifty years and older to get the shingles vaccine.
Whereas, Shingles is a painful skin rash caused by reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox, which stays dormant in the body after recovery from chickenpox; and
Whereas, Anyone who has recovered from chickenpox may develop shingles, and though it is unclear why the virus reactivates, the risk of the virus reactivating and causing shingles significantly increases with age; and
Whereas, The rash, consisting of blisters that typically scab in 7 to ten days and take 2 to 4 weeks to clear up, usually occurs in a single stripe around one side of the face or body; and
Whereas, Even after the rash clears up, complications of shingles cause more than ten percent of adults to experience long-term pain in the areas where the rash was and can take weeks or months to subside; and
Whereas, Almost all adults are at risk of getting shingles as studies show that more than ninety-nine percent of Americans forty years and older had chickenpox; and
Whereas, Although contact with fluid from shingles blisters can cause chickenpox in someone who never had chickenpox or a chickenpox vaccine, shingles cannot be passed from one person to another; and
Whereas, Nevertheless, nearly 1 out of 3 people in the United States will get shingles as a result of the dormant virus in their body reactivating, and there are an estimated 1 million cases of shingles each year in the United States; and
Whereas, The most effective way to reduce the risk of developing shingles is to get vaccinated; and
Whereas, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults fifty years and older get two doses of the shingles vaccine, 2 to 6 months apart, to prevent against the risk of shingles and complications caused by shingles; and
Whereas, Two doses of the recommended vaccine is ninety-seven percent effective at preventing shingles in adults between fifty and sixty-nine years old; and
Whereas, In adults age seventy years and older the vaccine is more than ninety percent effective at preventing shingles and stays more than eighty-five percent effective for at least the first 4 years after getting vaccinated; and
Whereas, More than a third of New Jersey’s approximately 9 million residents are over the age of fifty; and
Whereas, It is fitting and proper for this House to promote a healthy society by spreading awareness of shingles and encouraging appropriate adults to get the shingles vaccine; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House encourages people fifty years and older to get the shingles vaccine, as medically appropriate.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the New Jersey Department of Health and AARP New Jersey.
STATEMENT
This resolution encourages those that are fifty years or older to get vaccinated for shingles. Shingles is a painful but generally non-contagious rash caused by reactivation of the chickenpox virus, which remains dormant in the body even after recovery from chickenpox. It is unclear why the virus reactivates but the incidence of reactivation is far higher in older age groups, with 1 in 3 people over the age of sixty getting shingles.
The most effective way to reduce the risk of shingles is by getting vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults fifty years and older get two doses of the shingles vaccine, 2 to 6 months apart. The most recently approved vaccine is more than ninety percent effective at preventing shingles across relevant age groups. This House therefore encourages all adults fifty years and older to get vaccinated for shingles.