Published 6 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b944
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b944

News

Shingles vaccination is likely to be cost effective at age 65 or 70

Roger Dobson

1 Abergavenny

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The age at which vaccination against Herpes zoster is most cost effective is 65 or 70 years, a new study indicates. Such protection could mean some 11 000 fewer cases of shingles each year in England and Wales, it estimates.

The researchers, at the UK Health Protection Agency and Utrecht University Medical Centre, also found that adding a booster dose of the vaccine at a later stage was unlikely to be cost effective (Vaccine doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2008.12.024).

A live attenuated vaccine against Herpes zoster was approved for use in the United Kingdom three years ago. The UK, unlike the United States, for example, currently has no vaccination programme for Herpes zoster.

The new study draws from original data from a clinical trial and from general practice databases and data on hospitalisation rates, mortality, and costs.

The original trial found that the vaccine halves the number of cases of . . . [Full text of this article]


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