Vaccination coverage: Shingles (71 years) - WMCA

Shingles vaccine coverage for adults of GP registered population turning 71 between 1 April to 31 March, and vaccinated by the following end of June. ## Rationale The shingles vaccination programme was introduced to reduce the incidence and severity of shingles in those targeted by the programme by boosting individuals’ pre-existing VZV immunity. The shingles vaccine stimulates individual pre-existing immunity, which cannot be acquired naturally, so immunisation is required for protection. In 2010, the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended that a herpes zoster (shingles) vaccination programme should be introduced for adults aged 70 years, with a catch-up programme for those aged 71 to 79 years. In April 2017, eligibility criteria for the shingles vaccination were revised so that adults become eligible for the routine programme on their 70th birthday and remain eligible until their 80th birthday. Following this change, from 2018 to 2019, vaccine coverage is measured in those aged 71 and is calculated as the total number of patients who turned 71 between 1 April and 31 March, and were vaccinated by the end of June, as a proportion of the number of patients that turned 71 years old between 1 April and 31 March. Prior to this (2013 to 2014 to 2017 to 2018), the vaccine was routinely offered to adults aged 70 years on 1 September of the programme year. Vaccine coverage was calculated as the total number of patients aged 70 on 1 September who had ever received the vaccination (numerator) as a proportion of the number of patients registered aged 70 years on 1 September (denominator) as of the following August. Due to the changes in the vaccination coverage collection described, data for this indicator are not comparable to the previous shingles indicator D06c: shingles vaccination coverage among 70-year-olds, available from 2013 to 2014 to 2017 to 2018. Reference: [Shingles (herpes zoster): the green book, chapter 28.] ## Definition of numerator Number of patients registered with a GP practice with 71st birthday within the financial year that received a shingles vaccination by the end of the June. The age and timing of the extraction for the numerator are different to the numerator describe in submissions prior to 2018 and 2019 in the D06c Population vaccination coverage: Shingles (70 years old) indicator. The numerators from these two indicators should not be compared. ## Definition of denominator Number of patients registered with a GP practice in each LA whose 71st birthday is within the financial year. The age and timing of the extraction for the denominator are different to the denominator describe in submissions prior to 2018 and 2019 in the D06c Population vaccination coverage: Shingles (70 years old) indicator. The denominators from these two indicators should not be compared. ## Caveats Aggregated GP practice level shingles vaccine coverage data is automatically uploaded via participating GP IT suppliers to the ImmForm website on a quarterly basis, and these data in turn are aggregated to LA level. The proportion of participating practices is currently at least 95 percentof all GP practices in England. Therefore, number of registered patients aged 71 years in each LA is based on participating practices only. Where less than 100 percent of practices in an LA participate the number of registered patients will not represent the true total in that LA and therefore vaccine coverage may not be truly representative of that LA.