THE HEALTH INFORMATION and Quality Authority (HIQA) has said that adding the shingles vaccine to the routine vaccination schedule people aged 50 years and older would not be an efficient use of HSE resources.

In March, HIQA launched a public consultation on adding the shingles vaccine to the national immunisation programme for adults.

Shingles vaccines are available in Ireland, but the HSE does not currently provide free vaccination and people must pay to be vaccinated.

Shingles is a viral infection caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox, and you can only get shingles if you have already had chickenpox.

Three out of every 10 people who have had chickenpox will go on to have shingles at some point in their life and while you cannot pass shingles to another person, coming in contact with shingles can cause chickenpox in someone who has never had Chickenpox before.

Shingles causes a painful, blister-like rash and while symptoms normally clear up within a month, some people may continue to experience pain for months, or even years after the rash heals.

While HIQA said that the shingles vaccine is safe and effective, it added that the benefit of the vaccine decreases over time.

When looking at the impact of adding the shingles vaccine to the adult vaccination programme, HIQA deemed that it would “not be an efficient use of resources” at the current vaccine price.

HIQA said that “offering the vaccine would cost a lot of money even after considering savings because fewer people go to the GP or are admitted to hospital”.

For example, if the vaccine was offered to everyone aged 65 years and over and half of people took up this offer, it would cost the HSE an extra €218 million over the first five years.

HIQA said an additional challenge to adding the shingles vaccine to the routine schedule would be ensuring enough trained people are available to administer another vaccine.

“While making the vaccine available to all would remove an imbalance in fair access to the vaccine, this could create unfairness in other ways,” said HIQA.

It added: “The health service needs to aim for a fair distribution of benefits and burdens for the whole population of Ireland.”

HIQA previously deemed that adding the Chickenpox vaccine to Ireland’s childhood immunisation programme would be cost effective.

“We found that vaccination against chickenpox is likely to represent a good use of healthcare resources,” HIQA chief scientist Dr Conor Teljeur said last year after publishing a Health Technology Assessment on adding the Chickenpox vaccine to the childhood programme.

“When societal costs, such as leave from paid work to care for sick children, are considered, we found that vaccination would be cost saving.

“Adding the vaccine to the childhood immunisation schedule would cost between €13 million and €28 million over the first five years, depending on whether one or two doses are given.”