what they said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

Canadian seniors can now help protect themselves against the intensely painful condition called shingles by getting a vaccine that becomes available today.

Merck Frosst Canada's Zostavax, the first and only vaccine to help prevent shingles, is now available at clinics and doctors' offices in Canada...

The original article can be found at: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090922/singles_090922/20090922?hub=Health

how did it rate? (more information)

what we said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

The biggest downfall of this article was its exaggeration of the prevalence of shingles. While the tone of the article implies that everyone (at least those above 60 years of age) should get Zostavax vaccine, the article does not provide the baseline risk for elderly individuals. While it does say that "the pain affects almost 90 per cent of shingles sufferers", there is no mention of how many seniors actually develop it. According to the American CDC, shingles occurs less than 0.5 % annually in Americans and is associated with a lifetime risk of 1 in 3. FDA suggests 3 in 1000 people will be hospitalized and 1 in 60,000 will die from this disease.

While the story did include some important elements (i.e. cost and availability information), the inclusion of absolute risk reduction values and information on potential harms would have helped portray a more accurate picture of this potentially useful vaccine.

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