re: shingles vaccine... as spuds mentioned, if you had chickenpox as a kid, get the shingles vaccine as early as you can... a friend (older gentleman)had a severe case of multi year duration...he had to have a drain implanted to reduce the swelling of his brain....vaccine was $200 at my MD, but was later reimbursed by my insurance...on the pneumonia vaccine...down here the death sequence for us old guys...break hip, enter nursing home, six weeks later contract pneumonia from someone's snotty nosed grandkid, die....