Shingles jab use must rise, experts warn, as shocking figures show less than half of all 71-year-olds have had it
The NHS must do more to tackle low uptake of the shingles vaccine, a study suggests.
Last year it launched a jab called Shingrix for people over 70 to protect them against the skin condition – but latest figures show less than half of all 71-year-olds have had it.
In contrast, the flu shot was received by approximately 80 percent of people over 65 last year.
And now, a study conducted by health officials has found that sending mailed invitations to those eligible for the crucial vaccine could significantly boost uptake.
More than 50,000 people get shingles every year and almost one in four will suffer from it at some point in their lives. The condition is related to chickenpox – the highly contagious disease that causes an itchy, patchy rash.
Less than half of all 71-year-olds have been vaccinated against shingles, a study shows
Although the virus is not usually serious if contracted early in life as chickenpox, it can potentially reactivate later in life as shingles and appear as a blotchy red rash with blisters.
If chickenpox is contracted at a young age, it is usually not serious, but the varicella-zoster virus that causes the disease remains in the nerves of the spinal cord for life.
It is controlled by the immune system, but this weakens with age, potentially allowing the virus to reactivate and strike again as shingles, where it appears as a blotchy, red, blistered rash.
It is usually on one side of the chest or abdomen, but can develop anywhere on the body. Often accompanied by headaches and nausea, the rash can be extremely painful and last for several weeks. A fifth of shingles patients will suffer from nerve pain for months after infection.
Although officials are concerned that not enough people are taking up Shingrix’s offer, a study by the UK’s Health Security Agency, published last week in the medical journal Vaccine, found that GP practices in Wales were inviting patients to get the jab , saw recording improve by ten percent.
“People are more likely not to know about the jab than not to want it,” said Prof Adam Finn, a vaccine expert at the University of Bristol.
‘Shingles is terrible. You would be crazy not to get the vaccine.”