Shingles Jab?

[feder1]

DAK that there is a shingles jab available?

My friend had a very bad do with shingles recently and we have just heard that another aquaintance is on morphine with it!

How come we are not informed of this jab?

Surely Medical Centres could keep their clients informed of developments and invite people for important jabs please?

Can Sajid Jabit please come to the rescue?

[pje16]

A vaccine to prevent shingles, a common, painful skin disease, is available on the NHS to people in their 70s.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinati ... ccination/

not fully researched, but it's £170 otherwise
https://healthclinics.superdrug.com/ser ... ccination/

[kiloran]

I believe there is a national programme to give shingles jabs to those between 70 and 80 (apparently the age range at highest risk).

I didn't know anything about it until my GP practice called me to invite me for the jab about a month ago.

--kiloran

[pje16]

It's not recommended for over 80s, as it has proved to be ineffective

[Lootman]

A vaccine to prevent shingles, a common, painful skin disease, is available on the NHS to people in their 70s.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinati ... ccination/

not fully researched, but it's £170 otherwise
https://healthclinics.superdrug.com/ser ... ccination/

I read elsewhere that people over the age of 50 should get the shingles jab. So the NHS only doing people over 70 seems a bit cheap. I know 2 people around age 50 who have had shingles and it is very unpleasant. One was my dentist who was 49 at the time. So it doesn't only affect old folks.

The jab is effective for 10 years, apparently.

I went privately to get mine.

[pje16]

It say about 50s on my 2nd link
I know someone just over 70 who had a mild dose, it was around his eye and as Lootman said, very painful

[bungeejumper]

Thanks for the prods, everyone. I got the text from my surgery three months ago, and I've been trying to find the time for an appointment ever since. I'm also backsliding on my pneumonia jab. Will get them both organised, promise.

I've never had shingles, but I can confirm that being in a respiratory ward with advanced pneumonia isn't a barrel of laughs either.

BJ

[GeoffF100]

The Americans use a newer vaccine that they say is much more effective than the one we use (but no doubt more expensive). A friend has had the first jab when he was living in the US, but cannot get the second one after returning, because it is not licenced over here.

[Lootman]

The Americans use a newer vaccine that they say is much more effective than the one we use (but no doubt more expensive).

In most cases vaccinations in the US are free to those with healthcare insurance. The insurers are happy to pay 100% of the cost of vaccinations because they are preventative and therefore reduce the potential for later and more expensive claims made by the insured.

The vaccine used in the US is called Shingrix. I don't know if it is available in the UK but it is made by Glaxo and so it would be odd if it were not. Here is the CDC information sheet on it:

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/shingl ... index.html

[GeoffF100]

I am out of date. Shingrix was licensed on 2nd September 2021:

https://www.pharmatimes.com/news/gsks_s ... e's%20(GSK)%20Shingrix%20has%20been,at%20increased%20risk%20of%20shingles.

It is still not generally available on the NHS, but my friend could get it if he is willing to pay. Ironically, he is still paying for Obamacare in the US. He was originally British, but his son is in the US, and he may return there one day.

[feder1]

I have had an NHS two part jab yesterday and with no ill effects! Very pleased.

Mrs F is below the critical 70 yrs old and is trying to find a jab from a chemist. Not Boots, nor Superdrug nor Lloyds, nor one or two others.

Privately she has been quoted £450 and £225.

[CliffEdge]

I read somewhere that the jab only protects for five years. Is that correct?

[redsturgeon]

We do private shingles vaccine, single dose £149. Does not need repeating.

[pje16]

Is that cheap like your "mates rates" for Beemers

[redsturgeon]

That's Mrs RS. She doesn't do mates rates.

John

[Eboli]

On a completely curved ball...

I suffer from peripheral neuropathetic pain caused as a side-effect of a drug I took some 20 years ago. To cut a long story short, I eventually got 8% capsaicin patches applied every 6 months under the NHS and...bingo, full relief for about 6 months. They do burn for a bit and you have to be careful to wash socks very carefully after treatment but compared with all the other pills and jabs I had the chilli patches were the business.

About 2 years ago when they were being applied in one of my 6 monthly treatments I asked how the treatment had come about. I was told the patches were developed originally to relieve the pain from shingles. Evidently, they have about a 60% success rate for long term relief. As a natural treatment with possible long-term relief and no serious side-effects they may be worth a look at if you've not come across them before. Qutenza I think is the trade name the NHS use.

Eb.

[redsturgeon]

The vaccines are to stop you contracting the disease. If you get the disease then you may or may not get pain during the two to four weeks of the illness characterised by a rash and blisters. You may also get nerve damage which can lead to longer lasting, painful, post herpetic neuralgia, those patches sound like they could be useful for that.

John