Cantabria begins herpes zoster vaccination with people aged 65

The Cantabrian Health Service (SCS) will begin this Wednesday, the 15th, to inoculate the first doses of the herpes zoster vaccine to all those people residing in Cantabria who turn 65 during 2023 (born in 1958). progressively, Vaccination coverage will be expanded from 65 to 80 years of age.

This deployment complements vaccination to over 18 with risk factorswhich has been carried out in Cantabria since 2022, the regional government has reported.

Specific, risk groups susceptible to vaccination are considered patients over 18 years of age with a hematopoietic stem cell and solid organ transplant, being treated with anti-Jak drugs, HIV, malignant blood diseases or solid tumors being treated with chemotherapy.

At the moment, the General Directorate of Public Health has acquired a total of 14,000 doseswhich will serve to start this new vaccination schedule in the Cantabria calendar, aimed at the population with the highest risk of suffering from herpes zoster, a serious and disabling disease that generates a need for care and a very significant health expense, accompanied by the suffering of patients and their social and family environment.

Thus, the introduction this year in the adult vaccination schedule of the doses to prevent herpes zoster responds to the need to protect the Cantabrian population due to the high incidence of this diseasesince 90 percent of the population has had chickenpox at some point in their lives and, in addition, from the age of 80 up to 50 percent of people suffer a reactivation of the virus.

The herpes zoster vaccine (Shingrix) has been shown to be very effective in preventing the disease, which increases in incidence after the age of 50 and reaches its peak at 65.

Users who may be vaccinated can call their health center to make an appointment, and self-appointments can also be made in the Basic Health Zones of Puertochico and Vargas (Santander), Santoña and Cotolino (Castro Urdiales), Campoo, Tanos, and Liébana .

Over the next few days, the opening of the self-appointment in the rest of the Basic Zones.

What is herpes zoster?

Herpes zoster is a localized infection produced by the reactivation of the latent varicella-zoster virus, the same one that causes chickenpox and remains latent in people’s bodies. The disease affects peripheral nerves and the skin, where it can produce small, ring-shaped painful blisters grouped along the nerve distribution zone (dermatome), which is why it is also known as shingles or St. Anthony’s fire.

It is estimated that around 20 percent of the population could get herpes zoster and the risk increases with age, due to immunosenescence and immunosupervision, among other causes that are not yet well known. It usually occurs in people over the age of 50, and those aged 60 and over are more prone to serious complications.

Although It is not a high mortality diseaseYes, it is an extremely painful and disabling pathology, which can be prolonged over time and present complications; the most common is postherpetic neuralgia, a very painful, debilitating and even disabling condition that causes shingles to hurt for a long time because damaged nerve fibers send confused and exaggerated pain messages from the skin to the brain.

In addition, if the branches of the trigeminal nerve in the eye area are affected, the infection can cause loss of vision, neurological problems and superinfections in the affected skin, among other complications. Cases of myocarditis (myocardial inflammation) or involvement of organs such as the kidney, liver or pancreas, hearing loss, facial paralysis or brain inflammation have also been described.

As with many other pathologies, in the case of patients belonging to risk or immunocompromised groups, the risk of complications is much higher.