Shingles coverage for older Australians increased by 40% following new vaccine

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-01-15 00:01

Australia; NSW

Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash. Story by Rachel McDonald, Australian Science Media Centre

Shingles vaccination coverage in Australians aged 65+ increased by 40% in the first year after the new Shingrix vaccine was added to the National Immunisation program, according to Australian research. A two-dose Shingrix program replaced Zostavax in late 2023, as it provides superior, longer-lasting protection and is safe for immunocompromised people, the researchers say. Using Australian immunisation data to track the uptake of Shingrix in its first year, the researchers say 2,522,020 doses were administered to over 65s, increasing shingles coverage from 31.3% in that cohort pre-Shingrix to 44.1% in late 2024.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research CSIRO Publishing, Web page The URL will go live at approx. 8am AEDT on the day of publication

Journal/
conference: Public Health Research and Practice

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS), The University of Sydney

Funder: The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) is supported by the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, the New South Wales Ministry of Health, and the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network. This work was conducted within the remit of our funding agreement with the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing to provide leadership as a national centre for building the evidence base for vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases through research and publication. The Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, the data custodian of the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR), approved publication by the NCIRS of these analyses, but was not involved in study design, analysis or interpretation.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.