People born right after November 2, 1936, got a free shingles shot when they turned 60, and over the next 7.5 years, fewer of them got dementia than people born just before that date—suggesting the vaccine might help protect the brain.

Getting the shingles vaccine might help lower your risk of dementia, and this isn’t just because people born on a certain date got other free health services too—because researchers checked, and no other health benefits jumped up for people born on that exact day.

Getting the shingles shot when you're 65 or older might help lower your chances of developing dementia by about a third over the next several years.

Getting the shingles shot after age 80 might help people with dementia live longer, even if they already have dementia — it doesn’t stop dementia from starting, but it might slow it down.

Getting the shingles vaccine didn’t make people go to the doctor more for other things or change how often they were diagnosed with common long-term illnesses like diabetes or high blood pressure—so if people who got the vaccine also had less dementia, it’s probably because the vaccine itself helped, not because they got better overall care.

Getting the shingles vaccine didn’t make people go to the doctor more for other things or change how often they were diagnosed with common long-term illnesses like diabetes or high blood pressure—so if people who got the vaccine had less dementia, it’s probably because the vaccine itself helped, not because they got better overall care.