The adjuvanted recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) was first approved in October 2017 to prevent herpes zoster and its complications in adults aged ≥ 50 years.

Following the marketing of RZV in Germany in 2018, reports of rashes, including those clinically compatible with herpes zoster, were received following vaccination with RZV.

We analysed 2.5 years of worldwide spontaneously reported post-marketing data of vesicular and bullous cutaneous eruptions following RZV vaccination.

The analyses did not raise safety concerns related to the onset of vesicular and bullous cutaneous rashes following vaccination with RZV.

This paper raises awareness about the varying causes of rashes: even though herpes zoster is a disease characterised by rash, a rash that onsets shortly after vaccination with RZV is not necessarily caused by vaccination.