Expanded shingles vaccination programme starts next week

The shingles vaccine will be offered to hundreds of thousands more immunosuppressed adults across GP practices from next week.

Around 300,000 more people will be made eligible for a shingles vaccination, with GP practices to roll out the jab to protect all severely immunosuppressed adults.

The vaccine, Shingrix, is currently available to people aged 65 to 79 and severely immunosuppressed individuals aged 50 and above.

People aged 18 to 49 who have a severely weakened immune system will be eligible for the shingles vaccination from Monday 1 September.

This includes those with conditions like leukaemia or lymphoma, or those who are undergoing chemotherapy, all of which put them at greater risk of becoming very unwell if they contract shingles.

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These people will be able to book an appointment for the vaccine at their GP surgery, with practices to begin contacting people over the coming weeks.

Dr Amanda Doyle, national director for primary care and community services at NHS England, urged any eligible people to receive their shingles vaccine.

‘The NHS will be contacting you to let you know you are eligible, but you can also make a booking through your local GP – and even if you’ve had shingles before, you can develop it again so please still come forward for the offer,’ Ms Doyle said.

How will be vaccine be rolled out?

Severely immunosuppressed people will be offered two doses of the non-live shingles vaccine, Shingrix, with the second dose given eight to six months after the first dose.

A JCVI report, published last November, estimates that before the introduction of a shingles vaccination programme in 2013, there were more than 4,500 hospital admissions per year because of shingles, most of which could have been prevented via vaccination.

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The findings revealed that within the first three years of the vaccination programme, there was around 17,000 fewer episodes of shingles and 3,300 fewer episodes of post-herpetic neuralgia among the eligible population.

Also in November, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) suggested the shingles programme be expanded to adults over the age of 80.

NHS England (NHSE) has said that the vaccine roll-out for adults aged 80 and above is awaiting ministerial approval.

The JCVI found that the risk of hospitalisation from shingles, or those resulting in post-herpetic neuralgia, was similar in younger immunosuppressed age groups compared to those who were already eligible.

The committee had previously recommended Shingrix for immunocompromised people over the age of 50 years because this was its licensed indication at the time.

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And in 2023, the NHS announced that it would move two doses of non-live shingles vaccine Shingrix instead of the one-dose Zostavax for everyone.

Susan Walsh, chief executive of Immunodeficiency UK, said: ‘We welcome the widening of the age eligibility criteria for the shingles vaccination programme for immunosuppressed individuals.

‘It means that people most at risk will be able to have protection against the worst effects of having shingles and will help reduce the risk of being hospitalised from its complications. We are encouraging everyone eligible to take up the offer.’