Prof. Tomasz Targowski: Shingles takes a toll on seniors. They should take care to vaccinate

We know that one should be vaccinated throughout life, that certain immunizations need to be refreshed every few years to remind the immune system what kind of defense response it should reproduce. This is especially important in seniors. To what extent are seniors able to carry out the immunizations that are recommended to them?

Currently, we have reimbursed three vaccinations, fully free, for seniors. These are vaccinations against influenza, pneumococcus and, of course, against COVID-19. Seniors who report to their primary care physician will get a free prescription and will be able to get this vaccination. One would like to see more free vaccinations on the list, because after the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a surge in this part of the pharmaceutical industry, modern safe vaccines to protect seniors from common diseases, among others. This is, for example, a newer vaccine against herpes zoster, more advanced than the one available on the list of free drugs. We have newer and specifically targeted for seniors antigen-enhanced flu vaccines, which are 50 percent reimbursed (they are not yet on the list of free drugs for seniors). We also have vaccination against the RS virus. This is a very underestimated virus in the senior population, associated until now with causing harm especially in children under five. On the other hand, it turns out that in the case of seniors it can even be deadly and is the cause of many hospitalizations in them due to lower respiratory tract infections. Well, and finally, we have vaccination at least against herpes zoster. We need to realize that hemiplegia vaccines are now available and 50 percent reimbursed. It is hemiplegia that takes a heavy toll precisely among seniors over 80, in whom the incidence is three times higher than in the general population. As a reminder, let me say that shingles is a sequel to chickenpox, which most of us have had in childhood. Even if we don't remember that pustular rash and outbreak of chickenpox from childhood, many of us went through this infection asymptomatically, or had contact with the chickenpox virus. This virus remains in our neurons, the nervous system, and waits for a convenient opportunity. Such a convenient opportunity is just old age, diseases that go with weakened immunity, but also the fact that the immune system is physiologically aging in seniors.