In health news affects many Zoomers, a new shingles vaccine approved by Health Canada last month is expected to be available in January. Shingrix has been shown to be more than 90 per cent effective at preventing the nerve pain of shingles in people over age 50 when compared with a placebo. The Zostavax vaccine currently on the market is about 50% effective and only offered for free to those aged 65 to 70. Everyone will have to pay for the new drug come January. Dr. Anne Van Burek, director of infection control at Toronto’s Mount Sinai, admits the medical community didn’t think a new vaccine was possible. Like many Canadians, she had chickenpox as a child, but never expected the virus would return decades later when she developed shingles. Van Burek says the pain and itch was so bad, she couldn’t even unscrew a tube of toothpaste.