From November 1, the new shingles vaccine Shingrix will replace Zostavax on the National Immunisation Program (NIP) schedule and will be available for eligible people most at risk of complications from shingles.
A two dose course of Shingrix will be available for free for:
- people aged 65 years and older
- First Nations people aged 50 years and older
- immunocompromised people aged 18 years and older with the following medical conditions:
•haemopoietic stem cell transplant
•solid organ transplant
•hematological malignancy
•advanced or untreated HIV.
Yarrawonga Medical Clinic (YMC) Doctor Clyde Ronan said that vaccination is a safe and effective way to protect yourself from serious disease caused by shingles so those who are eligible should look into receiving the shot.
“There will be two injections over a six month period which are now free thanks to the generosity of the government,” Dr Ronan said.
“Immunocompromised people should get it two months apart and it will provide around 10 years of protection.”
Shingles is a disease caused when the chickenpox virus reactivates and presents as a painful blistering rash on one side of the face or body that lasts 10-15 days.
However, one in five people with shingles will develop severe nerve pain that can last months or even years. In a few people, it may be permanent.
The likelihood of developing shingles increases with age. People aged 65 years and over have the highest chance of complications like post-herpetic neuralgia.
“Zostafax, which is the old vaccine, was found to not be as effective as far as vaccines go and interestingly enough, over the last few years the efficiency of the vaccine has waned even further,” Dr Ronan said.
“Now GlaxoSmithKline developed this Shingrix vaccine which has several advantages. One of which is that it doesn’t have live viruses.
“Many vaccines are made up of live viruses but the problem is that can cause many complications for people who have impaired immunity such as cancer patients.
“This was invented in a test tube and has been on the market for a few years now.
“The eligibility criteria of this one is slightly stricter but slightly looser in some ways. It is different, as immunocompromised in some contexts gets interpreted very loosely and can include all sorts of people however this one is more succinct.
“The reason for this is because the people suffering from the particular diseases that are now on the eligibility list are currently on anti rejection drugs which puts a dampener on your immune system.”
Dr Ronan said he believes it is a good thing that the government is now paying for the vaccine as he is in favour of the government spending its money on things like this.
“The very elderly suffer from not only a weakness of muscles but weakness of everything, so this is going to be a very strong plus for the aged community who are at risk of getting a very serious form of shingles,” Dr Ronan said.
“My mother is almost 100 and she will be having it. That shows how much I believe those who are eligible should protect themselves against this disease.
“Some people are very risk adverse but the risks are almost zero. It is very rare to be allergic to it but commonly people will get a sore arm and feel slightly unwell which apllies to almost the lot of vaccines including influenza.
“This tells you that your immune system is recognising something.”
Dr Ronan confirmed that from November 1 YMC will be on a drip feed in terms of vaccine availability as it won’t be an open sesame situation however the clinic will have to wait and see what they are provided with.
“We will allocate at first on the prioritisation of need, where we deem the greatest risk to be. We have started a list and will ring these patients when we receive the vaccine,” Dr Ronan said.
“Sometime after November 1 they will provide us with some batches. We are not sure if that will be the first week or the second.
“We can’t answer that as much as we couldn’t with the covid vaccines.”
Once the medical clinic receives the vaccine on a more regular basis, it will be a book in basis to get your vaccine.
“We will probably not do a vaccine clinic like we do with influenza and covid so if people are wanting to come in for just their shingles vaccine, we can put them into a fast stream where they can have an easy access, five minute appointment,” Dr Ronan said.
“The nurses will work with the doctors to conduct this.”
Dr Ronan confirmed that those who have had the Zostavax in the last decade should still look to get the Shringix vaccine as well as those who have had shingles itself within the last 10 years.
“People have questioned if they have had the Zostavax, can they now have the Shingrix,” Dr Ronan said.
“The answer is that most vaccines don’t last forever, and what we found with the Zostavax was that its effectiveness was fading fairly quickly.
“There was no booster program funded by the government so if somebody says that they have had the Zostavax that they shouldn’t have Shingrix, I would say yes you do.
“Even if you have had shingles you still need this vaccine as the protection you got from having shingles didn’t last very long.
“There are no prizes for delaying to get the vaccine because you might get shingles in the interim while you are waiting.
“We would encourage early interest as you are taking a chance.”
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