Vaccination Programme Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-12 ============================================================ Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny I thank the Senator for highlighting this very important matter, which I am taking this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. Varicella is a common highly infectious disease caused by varicella-zoster virus. The virus is associated with chickenpox and shingles. This virus becomes latent in a body's nervous system and may reactivate after a period, resulting in shingles. Approximately one third of people who have had varicella infection will develop shingles infection at some point, but two thirds occur in those aged 50 years and older. Morbidity associated with shingles increases with age, and the most common complication is postherpetic neuralgia, which is a persistent pain in the area of the rash. This has potential to significantly affect quality of life, activity, mood and sleep. Currently, a vaccine called Shingrix is available in Ireland and is administered as a two-dose vaccine. Shingrix is more effective than the previously available Zostavax, and can be safely administered to immunocompromised patients. Internationally, it has become the preferred vaccine against shingles. The national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, guidelines state that the vaccine may be considered in those aged 65 and older due to the greater burden and severity of the disease on the postherpetic neuralgia in this age group, and in those aged 18 and older at increased risk of shingles. It should be noted that in advance of any change in policy, the Minister can request that HIQA carries out an evaluation of the impacts of a potential policy change. These evaluations take the form of the health technology assessment, HTAs. A HTA is a multidisciplinary research process that collects and summarises information about the health technology in a systematic, unbiased and transparent manner. The Minister for Health can advise that following a request from the Department, HIQA carried out a HTA on the vaccine, which examined safety and clinical effectiveness. The cost-effectiveness and budget impact were also reviewed, in addition to the ethical, social and organisational implications of including the vaccine in the adult immunisation schedule. The HTA was published on 19 July 2024. It found that including the shingles vaccine in the routine immunisation schedule at the vaccine price at that time, for all adults aged 65 years and over, would not be cost-effective and would have a substantial budget impact. However, it found that it could be cost-effective for vaccination of those aged 75 years and 80 years if the cost of the vaccine were reduced by 80%. In 2025, the Department of Health requested the HSE, which retains full responsibility for the vaccine procurement process, to enter a non-binding negotiation with the manufacturer of Shingrix to determine if the HSE could procure the vaccine at a cost-effective price. The HSE advised that the price quoted by the manufacturer was greatly in excess of the price noted by HIQA as a good use of healthcare resources in their 2024 HTA. The Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer are committed to exploring whether it is possible to offer the shingles vaccine to a cohort of immunocompromised individuals in the first instance, in line with NIAC advice. Earlier this year, the CMO again asked the HSE to conduct a new follow-on assessment of the cost of delivering a vaccine programme. If the HSE can negotiate a more affordable price, it will submit costings to the Department of Health. Furthermore, HIQA has also been asked by the Department of Health to conduct a scoping exercise to establish whether there is any relevant additional scientific information available subsequent to the 2024 HTA. When all this information is available, the Minister for Health will make a decision in relation to the introduction of a targeted shingles vaccination programme. This will require seeking additional funding via the annual budget and Estimates process for 2027. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-12/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:55+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-12