Member for Pearce urges seniors to get free shingles vaccination

A FREE shingles vaccination is available for people aged 70 and over through a national immunisation program.

Federal Member for Pearce Christian Porter is encouraging eligible seniors to benefit from the initiative, with a catch-up program for adults aged 71 to 79 years.

“This new national shingles vaccination program is an important reminder that vaccinations don’t stop at childhood,” Mr Porter said.

The program is part of the National Immunisation Program (NIP) to improve the health of older Australians.

Shingles is a serious infection caused by the chickenpox virus; one in three adults is at risk of developing the virus in a lifetime.

With the introduction of the shingles vaccine, the NIP provides free vaccines for eligible people against 17 infectious diseases.

For more about NIP, www.immunise.health.gov.au.