Senior citizens can't believe a costly vaccine to protect against the disease shingles is only free during one year of their life.
One in three people are at risk of developing shingles in their lifetime and the risk increases with age. Currently people who are immune-compromised or over the age of 50 can get the vaccine Shingrix, but it is only funded for 65 year olds.
Sixty-seven-year-old Sue McRae from Masterton told Fair Go she missed out by a month last year. Auckland woman Mabel Crawford said she meant to get her jab a few years ago before the pandemic, but "they didn't have any in stock and they said, 'oh just come back another day and you can have it.'"
She and Sue said they weren't told about the time restrictions and got "a terrible shock" when they discovered that the vaccine would cost them around $700.
"I couldn't believe it," Mabel said.
"It's almost unbelievable really. That they would expect senior citizens to pay 700 dollars out of a pension."
There are other vaccines that are funded for a limited time, including HPV, pneumococcal and meningococcal B. But Shingrix is the only one that's funded for just the one year.
However, a vaccine for shingles wasn't free for anyone prior to 2018, which is when Pharmac began funding the brand Zostavax for 65s.
Pharmac chief medical officer Dr David Hughes said the age 65 was chosen as "the sweet spot", balancing the severity and frequency of the disease versus the decreasing efficacy of the vaccine in people as they age.
"You're only getting it once… there is no evidence that repeated vaccination with these vaccines is useful," Hughes said.
When the vaccine was first funded, there was a catch up for those aged 66 to 80. This went on for two years and was extended for a further period and closed in December 2021.
Mabel said she'd heard nothing of the sort.
Public health agency Te Whatu Ora told Fair Go it has emailed people age 65 to let them know they qualify for a free vaccine. It hasn't communicated anything through social media but said the funding criteria can be found on its website.
Te Whatu Ora said it doesn't hold data on the number of people who have received the vaccine for free but is currently building a national register to record this information in the future.
The manufacturer of Shingrix, GSK, said all its ads contain statements about the funding status of the vaccine in line with the Medicines NZ Code of Practice.
Pharmac said it is considering funding it for more people in the future, including people aged 50 to 64, Māori and Pacific people over 60, immune compromised adults, and over 65s who either had the old vaccine Zostavax or missed out because of Covid restrictions.
More information about the status of those proposals can be found on its website.
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