Sir, – Jennifer Murphy (Letters, May 5th) correctly and helpfully draws attention to some of the adverse consequences – the sequelae – of onset of shingles.
As we age into our seventh and eighth decades of life we develop immune senescence, the age-related weakening of our immune system. Shingles can become a much more severe infection with very serious morbidity consequences in some cases because of our weakened immune systems.
There is also an unintended benefit of shingles vaccination. Vaccination has the potential to suppress brain inflammation and, as a result, may delay or prevent age-related dementia. This is especially emphasised in the case of women, even more so than men.
That is a significant benefit in terms of saving future public health and social costs, not to mention the individual human cost. Prevention is always better than cure.
There is also an unintended consequence of paid-for shingles vaccination. When I sought to persuade some friends of advanced years of the potential protective effect of shingles vaccination, they were unconvinced because, in their view, if shingles vaccination really was of benefit to the older population, then the HSE inevitably would provide it free.
Because the vaccine is expensive and not free of charge from the HSE, they incorrectly inferred that it was unlikely to have any significant therapeutic benefit. The unintended consequence is that those who are fortunate enough to be able to afford the shingles vaccine are dissuaded from availing of its benefits.
Geriatricians and gerontologists recommend shingles vaccination. Many European countries, including the UK, provide the double-administered vaccine free but the cost of the vaccination programme in Ireland is proving a deterrent.
Would our Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, think of consulting the medical experts and reconsider the failure of the HSE to make the shingles vaccine available free to the over-65s age group? – Yours, etc,
ANTHONY LAYNG
Ringsend,
Dublin 4.