Important: VAERS reports alone cannot determine if a vaccine caused an adverse event. Reports may contain incomplete, inaccurate, or unverified information. Correlation does not equal causation.
14,538 adverse event reports (+11% vs 2020)
In 2021, 14,538 adverse event reports were filed for Zoster Live (Zostavax) in VAERS. This represents 10.4% of all 140,312 reports for this vaccine.
Of these reports, 52 mentioned death, 259 involved hospitalization, 552 required ER visits, and 388 reported disability.
Compared to the average of 6,673 reports per year for this vaccine, 2021 was above average (+118%).
High report volume: 14,538 reports in a single year is significant. This typically reflects large-scale vaccination campaigns rather than increased risk per dose. Without knowing total doses administered in 2021, raw report counts cannot indicate safety rates.
This data comes from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), jointly managed by CDC and FDA.