Events | 2010.01.30
Row over age limit for shingles vaccination
Ministers want everyone over the age of 70 to be eligible but campaigners say age limit is too high
Every person in their 70s could soon be vaccinated against shingles, a painful infection that can cause pain, scarring, sight loss and sometimes death in older people. Four million people in England will be eligible to receive the jab, as long as ministers can strike a deal with its manufacturer, after a recommendation by government advisers .
The illness affects an estimated 250,000 people in the UK every year.
Family doctors and specialists working with older people welcomed the move. But a row erupted last night when shingles campaigners demanded that people should be able to receive the jabs as soon as they turn 60.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) specified that only those in their 70s should be eligible because the burden of the illness is heaviest in that age group.
But Marian Nicholson, director of the Shingles Support Society, told the Observer : "I\'m disappointed that it\'s only 70 to 79-year-olds and that you\'ll have to wait until you are 70 to get this vaccine. It should be available from 60, because your risk of getting shingles rises sharply enough for 60 to be the age at which enough people suffer enough to make it worthwhile."
Dr Ian Donald of the British Geriatrics Society, which represents specialists in medical care for older people, said 70 was the right age at which to start vaccinations because most cases of shingles occur in those in their 70s or 80s. "Pitching it at 70 and upwards is reasonable. You won\'t have missed too many cases if you start it at 70."
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the age limit came from the joint committee, which is composed of independent experts. The NHS Choices website states, however, that shingles "is most common in people who are over 50 years of age".
There is only one vaccine already in use globally to prevent shingles, called Zostavax. It is marketed as being useful for people from 60 upwards, and some are advised to have it as early as 50, Nicholson said. Negotiations over the cost of the vaccine could potentially delay its introduction in England, she predicted.
Shingles is the reappearance in later life of the herpes varicella zoster virus, which also causes chickenpox in children. It infects both a nerve and the skin around it, usually on one side of the body. About one in five people suffer at some stage. Most are elderly, though a few are young. Typical symptoms include pain, a rash and blisters, which can continue for several months.
"Although treatable with antiviral drugs, shingles can be extremely debilitating and sufferers may be hospitalised, with many suffering chronic pain lasting months," the Department of Health said. "Introducing this vaccine will offer protection against shingles to thousands of older people. It will also protect many against the severe pain that often comes with shingles. A vaccination will last for about seven years."
Around 30% of shingles sufferers develop post-herpetic neuralgia, in which the affected area of the body remains sore, sometimes indefinitely. Shingles can lead to impaired or lost vision in one eye, and scarring from the blisters, and was listed as the main cause of death in 100 people in England and Wales in 2008.
"It can render the patient\'s final years an unendurable misery because the pain can be horrendous", said Nicholson. "One patient described it as like childbirth going on for ever and without any baby at the end of it."
The government is increasingly turning to vaccines to try to reduce the impact of conditions such as cervical cancer and swine flu. "A rigorous procurement programme will now be undertaken to determine whether shingles vaccine can be procured at a price which would make the vaccination programme cost-effective," said the public health minister, Gillian Merron.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jan/31/shingles-vaccination-over-70s
