Shingles

shingles - are you eligible for the vaccine?

Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is a painful skin rash caused by the reactivation of the chickenpox virus on people who have previously had chickenpox. Shingles can be very painful and uncomfortable and the pain can also linger long after the rash has disappeared, even for many years.

Between September 2014 and September 2015 the shingles vaccine is being offered routinely as part of the NHS vaccination programme for people aged 70, 78 or 79.  You become eligible for the vaccine on the first day of September 2014 after you turned 70, 78 or 79 and remains so until the last day of August 2015. The vaccine is given as an injection into the upper arm.  

You don’t ‘catch’ shingles - it comes on when there’s a  reawakening of chickenpox virus that’s already in your body.  The virus can be reactivated because of advancing age, medication, illness or stress. It’s estimated that one in five people who have had chickenpox go on to develop shingles.  

You can have the shingles vaccination at any time of the year so it might be worth your while contacting your doctors’ surgery.

Health Editor