Anyone like me and at 66 have to wait until 70 for a shingles vacination?

Well I had to wait another year in which time I had shingles. I went to the doctors after looking up the symptoms and said I had tried to get the vaccine just a few months before. He said well there has to be a cut off point. I was then offered the vaccine with the annual flu jab which I also took.

I requested (and got) the pneumonia jab earlier this year although other friends the same age were offered it automatically but they do have other health issues whereas I don’t.

When I asked about the shingles jab the nurse said I wasn’t eligible as I’m 68 but to check the Welsh health site around September as the guidelines are reviewed around then.

Your GP can’t give you the jab, because their contract doesn’t allow them to go against the guidance, unless you have a chronic condition which is eligible. . I’m in the same position, and I agree it does seem a crazy system. Why they didn’t reduce the eligibility age on an annual basis and do 70 and 69 year olds in 20023/24, and then 69 and 68 years olds in 2224/25 and so on, instead of leaving out the people between 66 and 69 until they are 70 beats me. Let’s hope that the contract changes to allow us to have it before we are 70.

This is what you do on the first day of retirement..... go through all your health and financial records, and refer to good old gransnet!
I am now 66, but I definitely haven't been offered the shingles jab.

I am just getting over Shingles. Never offered the jab and I am just 70. My friend will be 72 this year and asked if she could have it and was told she has to wait until they contact her.

I wouldn’t have it now anyway after reading up about it.

I'm 68 I was refused the jab. Defys all logic that you can get it at 65. Waspi woman further age discrimination.

I fell into the group being missed out for the Shingles vaccine so, having a husband who was increasingly dependent on me as his Parkinson’s advanced, paid to have it at our local pharmacy. Less than £200 if I remember rightly, some five or so years ago, and meant there was one less thing to worry about.

Thats strange ive been offered it at 64

I was so angry about being in the no man’s land at 67 that I messaged my local MP. The GP surgery agreed it was madness but have to stick to the rules. Shingles ruined my mother’s life. She was so ill with it she had to go into hospital where she then had a massive stroke which completely incapacitated her. She will have cost the NHS much more than the cost of a vaccine, and is the reason I was keen to have it when I saw all the misleading adverts.

grammargran how really annoying for you 😠

We're both 66 so we still have to wait until 70.
I googled having the vaccination privately and appointments are available: two injections @£225, £450 each so £900 altogether... 🤔

There are 2 vaccines available for shingles. One is a single vaccine the other is 2. It depends which one you qualify for.

I’m 84 and have always been in the wrong age group for the shingles vaccine. Now it’s too late. It’s never mentioned that some age groups for some reason were never eligible.

There is confusion about whether the vaccine is one or two doses. The original vaccine was one dose live vaccine and unsuitable for those who are immuno-compromised or have certain allergies.
I could not have the old one due to allergies. The practice nurse had to ask the GP if I could have Shingrix, as I am not immuno-compromised and she said it is more expensive than the old one. This was earlier this year so guidelines have changed in a short time.

They WANT the kudos of giving it to all over 65s so that’s how it sounds, whilst saving the money on funding it fully.

I had chicken pox as a child, and I had shingles as an adult. I was lucky, it really wasn’t that bad for me, but I know it can be bad.
I also had the vaccine earlier this year when I turned seventy.
I don’t understand why one poster was turned away because she’d had chicken pox as a child and was not allowed the vaccine. I think she should ring her surgery and make a new appointment.

It reflects some of really unfair policies we have to endure like the fact all pensioners who paid full ‘stamps’ as we used to call it, are not eligible for the same amount of pension, Year of birth dictates whether you get the old or the new pension, with approx £200 difference a month. My husband missed the ‘new’ pension by less than a week. Good job that wasn’t annoying as my husband says 🙄.

It’s very misleading saying it’s available to those from 65. Jeremy Vine was talking to a guy on the radio saying it’s now available from 65. No mention about all those older than 65 who aren’t eligible until they are 70. If it’s financial, which I’m sure it will be, why not give it to older people first, rolling the ‘younger’ people in as it goes along once the oldest are vaccinated. I hear it’s worse the older you are, though don’t have evidence of that.

The whole point of the vaccine is to stop people who had chicken pox as a children getting shingles as they get older.

If you never had chicken pox then you can't get shingles . Nor can you catch shingles from someone who has chicken pox.

Once you had chicken pox the virus stays in your body . In some people it re actives when they are older in others it never does.

My son was in his early 20's when he had shingles but didn't realise and it was to late to have the anti virus for it.

All grandsons have had the chicken pox vaccine to stop them getting it. Their parents had to pay and it was 2 injections.

Nicksmrs46

I was offered it at 70 but when I went to my appointment I was asked if I’d had chicken pox as a child , “yes I did “ I was told that I couldn’t have the jab as the virus was already in my body ….

And how many adults actually know which childhood illnesses they may have had?

This way of allocating the vaccine makes no sense.
Is it an exercise in seeing how many people will pay?

Nicksmrs46

I was offered it at 70 but when I went to my appointment I was asked if I’d had chicken pox as a child , “yes I did “ I was told that I couldn’t have the jab as the virus was already in my body ….

Whoever told you that needs to go on an urgent retraining course!

If you can possibly afford to have the shingles injection privately instead of waiting until you are 70 - please - go ahead and get it. Shingles is absolutely miserable - I’ve had it and it’s really really painful and you feel so unwell for up to three weeks. Once you have fully recovered and the pain has subsided, the nerve endings at the site of the affected area remain sensitive and can flare up again for many months. I caught shingles a couple of years before I was 70 and I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I’m now fully vaccinated (2 injections) - and I happily paid for them as they are not covered.

Easier said than done getting an appointment and then getting the aciclovir which has to be taken asap. My friend had the anti viral but was still very ill with it.

If you can whizz to the docs at first sign of shingles anti viral tablets stop it within a couple of days.
Therefore no vaccine needed

I was offered it at 70 but when I went to my appointment I was asked if I’d had chicken pox as a child , “yes I did “ I was told that I couldn’t have the jab as the virus was already in my body ….