Five million older and vulnerable Australians will have access to a new, and more effective, vaccine from next month, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) reports.
Every Australian aged 65 and over will be offered free protection against shingles from 1 November, under an $800 million immunisation program.
Federal health and aged care minister Mark Butler says a free recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV, sold as Shingrix) will be made available under the National Immunisation Program (NIP).
RZV is more effective than its predecessor and provides around 10 years of protection and usually costs up to $560, the RACGP says.
It says one in three people will develop shingles in their lifetime and 20 per cent of those will develop severe nerve pain.
Those eligible for the free vaccine include older Australians, as well as First Nations people aged over 50, and immunocompromised people 18 and over at high risk of herpes zoster infection.
RZV will replace the vaccine sold as Zostavax on the NIP following advice from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) and the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).
Mr Butler says the vaccine is the world’s best and described the virus as “a very serious public health menace”.
“Hospital operators have said to me that shingles and issues associated with shingles among older Australians is presenting in their hospitals with increasing frequency,” he said.
“[RZV] is much more effective, about 90 per cent effective for older Australians in preventing shingles, compared to 40 per cent for older Australians with the existing vaccine.”
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