Nova919 host Jodie Oddy says Bali holiday hell made her a vaccine ‘poster child’

Nova919 breakfast host Jodie Oddy’s holiday to Bali was so painful she says it has turned her into a vaccination “poster child”.

One day into a Bali “de-stressing” holiday with husband Greg earlier this month, Jodie Oddy felt a burning sensation on her neck.

The sensation quickly turned into a rash, weeping blisters and pain so extreme it has spurred the Nova919 radio host into calling on the Federal Government to extend access to free shingles vaccinations.

“There’s an assumption that it’s an older person’s ailment but we’ve been getting phone calls from people who got it when they were 17 or 18 years of age … people have got it in their eyes, in their ears,” Jodie, also a television reporter, says about her illness.

TV and radio personality, Jodie Oddy at work in Eastwood, is still suffering from shingles. Picture: Matt Loxton

She wants Federal Health Minister Mark Butler to extend access to the shingles vaccine that can cost up to $560, it is free for those aged over 65 or for immunocompromised patients aged 18 to 65.

Jodie Oddy contracted shingles in Bali. Picture: Instagram / @jodieandhayesy

Jodie, 48, visited a doctor in Bali but misunderstood “when she was offering me antibiotics and a cream and I chose a cream when she really wanted me to have both”.

The shingles got worse forcing Jodie to mainly stay inside their Cannggu villa to avoid sunlight where she also endured a bout of “Bali belly”.

“We arrived home on Saturday, September 21, at about 6pm and I got into the car and said to my husband to drop me at the Calvary Hospital and then to go home to the kids,” Jodie says, adding that she has four children aged 21, 13, 11 and almost five.

“I remember sitting in the waiting room sobbing my eyes out … I’m going back to the GP to see if a vaccination will help now because at this point I never want to have it again.

“I never thought I would be the poster girl for shingles but here we are.”