Painfully unaware: Improving people’s understanding of shingles vaccination
About
Europe’s population is ageing – currently, 20.8% of people in the EU are over 65 and this is set to increase to more than 30% by 2100. Ensuring that we stay healthy as we age isn’t just good for the future sustainability of our health systems but for our economies too: previous ILC research has shown that older adults across the EU in better health are more likely to be in work, volunteer often, and spend more.
A key component of healthy ageing is vaccination. This has been demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic: vaccines have helped to save an estimated 470,000 lives in Europe among people aged 60 and over.
Yet while the pandemic has helped to raise awareness about life course vaccines and seasonal vaccination such as influenza (flu), complacency remains with other routine immunisations. One UK study found that older adults are almost 50% more likely to say that they will get a flu vaccine than a shingles vaccine during the year.
This is despite that shingles-associated mortality increases with age, and that a person’s quality of life can be reduced significantly by debilitating nerve pain that can last up to several years after the disease, as well as other complications.
In the context of an ageing Europe, ensuring better vaccination awareness and thus uptake is crucial to prevent ill health and a potential outbreak of shingles across Europe.
In this project, we will be surveying over-50s across nine European countries to understand their attitudes towards shingles and shingles vaccination. These countries are Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. We will use these findings to make evidence-based policy recommendations for stakeholders across Europe to help increase awareness and uptake of shingles vaccination.
This project has been supported by an unrestricted grant from GSK and is being carried out in partnership with the ILC Europe Network and Coalition for Life Course Immunisation.
 |
 |
 |
Survey
Across the following countries, we will be conducting a survey to understand older adults’ awareness of shingles and shingles vaccination:
- Austria
- Belgium
- France
- Greece
- Italy
- Spain
- Sweden
- The Netherlands
- United Kingdom
Events
11/01/2024
Adult immunisation in Europe roundtable: Improving shingles vaccination uptake
At this roundtable, we presented the findings of ILC-UK’s forthcoming report on shingles vaccination across Europe and engaged in conversation with experts to understand what can be done better.
We want to hear from you
If you would like to get involved in this project or have any questions, please contact Anna Van Renen.