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People in their 70s in Kent and Medway urged to take up shingles vaccine offer

People in their 70s in Kent and Medway are being urged to protect themselves against shingles with a free vaccine.

Local GP practices have begun writing to eligible patients to offer them the vaccination as part of the NHS shingles immunisation campaign for 2015/16, which begins on 1 September 2015.

By the end of July 2015, over half of all eligible patients in Kent and Medway had been vaccinated against shingles* but the NHS is encouraging everyone who is offered the vaccine to take it up this year.

Dr John Rodriguez, Head of the Public Health Screening and Immunisation team for Kent and Medway said: “As people get older their immune system naturally weakens, which is why people aged 70 and over are more likely to get shingles.

“For some people shingles can be very painful and debilitating.  As well as being more at risk from the illness, those aged over 70 can develop complications and suffer chronic pain from shingles, long after the initial rash caused by the condition has disappeared.

“In one in 1000 cases shingles can even be fatal and so it is important that eligible patients take up the offer from their GP surgery to be vaccinated against the virus.”

Shingles is a very itchy, painful, burning group of blisters caused by the reactivation of the chickenpox (varicella-zoster) virus. The rash commonly affects one area of the body, often the chest, and can last up to four weeks.

However for some people, pain persists for several months, or even years, after the rash has disappeared (this is known as post herpetic neuralgia or PHN).

From 1 September 2015, the shingles vaccine will be routinely offered to anyone who is aged 70 as of that day.  A catch up vaccination campaign will also be extended to 78-year-olds.  Those patients eligible for the vaccine should receive a letter from their GP surgery.

In addition, patients who were eligible for immunisation in the first two years of the vaccination programme, but who have not yet been vaccinated against shingles, remain eligible until their 80th birthday.  This includes:

  • people aged 71 and 72 on 1 September 2015; and
  • people aged 79.

The NHS encourages eligible patients to speak to their GP practice to arrange to be vaccinated.