Safer and more effective shingles vaccine will be available to Aussies - but it won’t come cheap

A safer and more effective vaccine for the extremely painful illness shingles will soon be available to Australians, but it won’t be cheap.

A new shingles vaccine almost twice as effective as the one currently available to Australians will finally hit the market, three years after it was first approved by health authorities.

But despite the data proving it is safer and more effective, the Shingrix vaccine has not been added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), meaning it will be out of reach for many Australians at about $600 for two doses.

Doctors have long touted Shingrix as the better alternative to the PBS-listed Zostavax jab, which has an efficacy rate of just 51 per cent and has been plagued with safety concerns.

Shingles is a reactivation of the same virus which causes chickenpox.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) knows of three Australians who have died after receiving Zostavax in the past three years.

The deaths have this week forced the TGA to add new warnings to the vaccine’s box: “The TGA has been closely monitoring reports of disseminated vaccine strain varicella zoster infection and has published several safety alerts in response to three deaths ­related to this condition following vaccination with Zostavax,” the regulator said.

Leading clinical virologist Tony Cunningham said Shingrix was clearly superior to Zostavax. Clinical trials found Shingrix was 97 per cent effective in preventing shingles in those aged under 50 and 91 per cent in those under 70.

Prof Cunningham said that an interim study showed that Shingrix protection lasted for up to seven years with 85 per cent efficacy – with predictions estimating the final study results will show protection for up 10-15 years.

On the other hand, Zostavax had declining efficacy over eight years.

Kerrie Kahler got shingles in April and described the pain as “excruciating”. Picture: Supplied

“I hope there is a compromised position (between all parties), which allows Australians who aren’t so well off to have access to it too,” he said. “Shingles can be very painful. The pain associated with shingles is often described as burning, shooting or stabbing. The acute pain can last for between two to four weeks, with some people potentially experiencing complications and chronic pain for months.”

Shingrix manufacturer GSK unsuccessfully tried to get the vaccine listed on the PBS in 2018.

The federal Department of Health said it would welcome a resubmission from GSK.

Kerrie Kahler, 58, of Speers Point in Lake Macquarie developed shingles in April.

“It was excruciating. It was like little fireworks going off inside of me. I was sensitive to touch. I had pain down my lower spine around to my belly button,” she said.

Ms Kahler said she believes the illness, which affects about 120,000 Australians a year, was brought on by stress.

“The vaccine should be available to everybody at no cost,” she said.

Originally published as Safer and more effective shingles vaccine will be available to Aussies - but it won’t come cheap