In 2017, more than 5,600 people got mumps, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The year before, in 2016, 6,366 cases were reported.

Studies have shown that vaccinating people during a mumps outbreak can help control it. Immunity from the MMR vaccine can wane over time in some people, and the booster dose brings it back up.

That’s why ACIP says people at high risk of catching mumps during an outbreak should get a booster dose, even if they’ve already been vaccinated twice.

And the official recommendation for the new shingles vaccine is in the Annals, also. The older vaccine, called Zostavax, is a “live” vaccine. It uses a weakened version of the virus that causes both shingles and chickenpox. The new vaccine doesn’t use the live virus,but a genetically engineered piece of the virus. It cannot cause “shedding” of virus and can be used in some people with weakened immune systems.

“Two doses of Shingrix is more than 90 percent effective at preventing shingles and post-herpetic neuralgia (the pain that follows an outbreak of shingles),” the CDC advises.

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