Castilla y León allocates more than €5 million for vaccines against herpes zoster – Soria News

The Governing Council authorizes the Ministry of Health to acquire 40,000 doses with which to offer systematic vaccination to the population cohort that turns 65 during the current financial year, thus fulfilling the criteria established for the entire National Health System . For 2022, it had been planned to extend the range of vaccination against herpes zoster to the general population that makes up the cohort of people who turn 65 years old throughout the current year. In order to meet this forecast, the Junta de Castilla y León has contracted the acquisition of 40,000 units of this type of vaccine, for which the Governing Council has today authorized the file processed by the Ministry of Health valued at 5,052,424 euros. In this way, the General Directorate of Public Health will attend to the vaccine needs foreseen for this financial year, with the vaccination schedule against herpes zoster being two doses. Herpes zoster is a viral infection that has its origin in the varicella zoster virus. and that it can affect any part of the human body; It presents with rashes, vesicles and pain, and can cause complications and disabling sequelae in those affected, including postherpetic neuralgia (a condition characterized by intense chronic pain that can lead to other related symptoms). Shingles has a higher incidence after 50 years, among women and in people with a depressed or weakened immune system in general; It is not a life-threatening disease, but it is highly painful and disabling, and vaccination is a measure that reduces the risk of suffering from this disease. In this sense, vaccination against herpes zoster has been part of the vaccination schedule since mid-2021, having been then established as a group recommended for its use, pending a greater availability of doses worldwide, the group made up of people over eighteen years of age with risk conditions (patients with hematopoietic stem cell transplants, solid organ transplant recipients, users of with anti-JAK drugs, people with HIV, malignant blood diseases, and solid tumors undergoing chemotherapy).