A dementia vaccine could be gamechanging – and available already

Getting vaccinated against shingles could protect you from getting dementia, or slow the progression of the disease

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Ashingles vaccine could reduce your risk of dementia by 20 per cent or slow the progression of the disease once you’ve got it, according to recent research led by Stanford University, in the US.

If these findings can be backed up in future research, the vaccine - which is already available - could be used to help prevent and treat dementia: an incurable disease that affects an estimated 57 million people globally.

In a study published in Nature, scientists analysed the health records of more than 280,000 adults in Wales between the ages of 71 and 88. They were aiming to understand the effects of a shingles vaccination programme that began in 2013.