Aussies dying because US patients get shingles vaccine first
A global pharmaceutical company is under pressure to make a hugely effective shingles vaccine available to Australians, after two unnecessary deaths.
Illness
Don't miss out on the headlines from Illness. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Exclusive: A global pharmaceutical company is under pressure to make a hugely effective shingles vaccine available to Australians, after two unnecessary deaths.
Former Australian Medical Association president Professor Kerryn Phelps said GSK’s Shingrix option was infinitely better than the existing Zostavax shingles vaccine.
But she claimed the manufacturer is prioritising the high cost US market over the Australian one — because they pay more.
The Therapeutic Goods Adminstration (TGA) revealed a patient died in July, three weeks after receiving the Zostavax shingles vaccine.
It was the second such death in Australia in three years.
Zostavax is only 51 per cent effective in preventing shingles, which produces a painful blistering rash, neuralgia and burning pain lasting over three months in people who’ve had chicken pox previously.
The Shingrix vaccine prevents 90 per cent of shingles cases and has a much better safety profile.
Shingrix was approved for use in Australia in July, 2018, but pharmaceutical company GSK said it couldn’t make enough of the vaccine to meet world demand.
“Due to the high efficacy in the prevention of shingles in clinical trials and the preferential recommendations supporting the use of Shingrix, we are experiencing unprecedented demand in the countries where Shingrix has launched,” GSK told News Corp.
“As a result of this unprecedented demand, we are launching in additional countries only when we can assure sustainable supply to that country. As such, Shingrix is not currently available in Australia although we continue to work toward bringing this vaccine to Australian patients.”
Professor Phelps said the company had a duty to make at least a small number of vaccine doses available to all countries for immunocompromised patients who were at risk from the older shingles vaccine.
“If there is not enough Shingrix vaccine to meet global demand, then a commercial decision seems to have been made to supply high profit markets like the USA in preference to markets like Australia where the profit margin is lower,” she said.
“The result is that Australians, particularly those with high risk or special needs miss out and we have to make do with a much less effective vaccine with a higher rate of adverse effects.
“I would like to see a more equitable distribution.”
After the recent death, the TGA reissued warnings about administering the Zostavax shingles vaccine to patients with immune systems deficiencies.
It said patients should to seek medical attention if they become unwell after receiving Zostavax, and to ensure that they mention their vaccination history to their treating health professional.
Originally published as Aussies dying because US patients get shingles vaccine first