Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of widening the availability of the shingles vaccination to those aged between 66 and 69 years old.

The potential merit of offering the Shingrix shingles vaccine to adults aged 65 years old from 1 September 2023 is to achieve population benefit from a vaccine which is predicted to provide longer lasting protection, meaning individuals can be vaccinated sooner and benefit for longer, compared to the previous shingles programme using the Zostavax vaccine.

This reduction in the age of eligibility is part of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s advice, that the roll-out of the 10-year expansion of the shingles programme should be done with a phased approach, to avoid undue additional pressure on National Health Service delivery services. The Shingrix two dose vaccine will be offered to those aged between 65 and 70 years old, until everyone aged 65 to 70 years old has been offered the vaccine, and then to those aged between 60 and 65 years old, until everyone aged 60 to 65 years old has been offered the vaccine. The vaccine would then be offered routinely from 60 years of age. Those over the age of 70 years old remain eligible until they turn 80 years old. Those aged 50 years old and over, who are at higher risk of serious complications as a result of having a severely weakened immune system, are also eligible.