Immune responses to zoster vaccines.

There are two licensed herpes zoster vaccines. One is a live vaccine (ZVL) based on an attenuated varicella-zoster virus (VZV). The other is a recombinant vaccine (RZV) based on the VZV glycoprotein E (gE) combined with AS01B, a multicomponent adjuvant system. RZV is superior to ZVL in efficacy, and differs from ZVL in that protection is not diminished by the age of the vaccinee and has not waned significantly during 4 years of follow-up. Immunologic studies demonstrated higher peak memory and persistence of T cell responses in RZV compared with ZVL recipients. RZV recipients also showed development and persistence of polyfunctional T cell responses. Taken together, we conclude that the immunologic data parallel and support the higher efficacy over time of RZV compared with ZVL.