First time implementing shingles vaccine in Vietnam

VNVC vaccination system and GSK pharmaceutical group (Belgium) have just officially launched the shingles vaccine in Vietnam.

According to Dr. Bach Thi Chinh, Medical Director of VNVC Vaccination System, the herpes zoster vaccine (herpes zoster) was introduced into use worldwide by GSK pharmaceutical company in 2017. To date, this vaccine has been approved and used in more than 50 countries, many of which have ordered large quantities to include in the national vaccination program for the entire population such as the UK, Australia, Greece, Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, etc.

The vaccine is produced using inactivated and recombinant technology and a formula containing special pharmaceutical ingredients to increase effectiveness in the elderly, people with underlying diseases, and people with immunodeficiency due to illness.

The vaccine is up to 97% effective in preventing herpes zoster in people aged 50 and older and up to 87% in people aged 18 and older with immunodeficiency due to illness, and reduces postherpetic neuralgia and other complications with greater than 90% effectiveness. The vaccine's effectiveness has been shown to last for more than 10 years.

The shingles vaccine prevents the reactivation of the Varicella Zoster virus, helping vaccinated people prevent the disease and its dangerous complications. Photo: VNVC

The vaccine is indicated for adults aged 50 and over and people aged 18 and over who are at high risk of developing shingles (people with immunodeficiency or immunosuppression due to illness or medication, etc.). People aged 50 and over receive 2 injections 2 months apart. People aged 18 and over who are at high risk of developing shingles receive 2 injections 1 month apart.

The first doses of shingles vaccine in Vietnam were safely transported, arrived and preserved according to international GSP quality standards at the VNVC cold storage center, and quickly distributed to all central cold storages nationwide overnight.

Shingles is a post-chickenpox disease caused by the Varicella Zoster virus (VZV). People infected with VZV for the first time will get chickenpox.

After recovery, the virus is not completely destroyed but hides in the nerve roots and will reactivate, causing shingles when favorable conditions such as old age, immunodeficiency, stress, physical weakness, after surgery, cancer treatment, underlying diseases such as cardiovascular disease, asthma, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, musculoskeletal system, etc. Anyone who has had chickenpox before can get shingles.

People who are not immune to chickenpox can get chickenpox if they come into contact with respiratory droplets and fluid from blisters of a person with chickenpox or the ruptured blisters of a person with shingles. People who have had chickenpox are at risk of developing shingles later in life.

Shingles manifests in infected people with red rash, vesicles, and blisters concentrated in clusters along the distribution of peripheral nerves, usually on one side of the body. The disease usually appears and can be cured after about 2-4 weeks.

However, the disease can cause many dangerous complications, especially: secondary infection of skin lesions leading to sepsis; conjunctivitis, keratitis, acute retinal necrosis leading to blindness; facial paralysis, tinnitus, hearing loss or loss of hearing; urinary and bowel disorders; encephalitis, meningitis, cerebrovascular accident; pneumonia, hepatitis.

Shingles also increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, acute myocardial infarction... If lucky enough not to experience serious complications, the patient will still suffer severe pain for many days after recovering from shingles and will have increased or decreased skin pigmentation and keloid scars in the rash areas.

In particular, about 5-30% of patients will experience post-herpetic neuralgia complications that last for months or years, even the pain lasts for the rest of their lives. The cause is due to the virus causing inflammation, necrosis and fibrosis of the sensory nerve endings.

These terrible pains are described by people who have had shingles as being stabbed by a knife or burned by boiling water. The pain of shingles is even described as being worse than the pain a woman feels during childbirth.

The older you are, the greater the risk of neuralgia and the more severe the disease. The rate of patients with this complication in people over 50 years old is 15-25 times higher than in people under 30 years old. Before the vaccine, the world health sector did not have optimal prevention and treatment methods, and it could recur. People with post-herpetic neuralgia that persists after the first episode and those with immunodeficiency, chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, etc. have a higher risk of recurrence.

In Vietnam, hospitals have also recorded an increase in shingles after the Covid-19 pandemic, with thousands of cases of complications and hospitalizations each year. With the majority of adults having been exposed to the chickenpox virus but having no obvious symptoms, thousands of cases of chickenpox each year, and an aging population, each person suffering from multiple chronic diseases at the same time, the risk of shingles in Vietnam is very high.

Adding the shingles vaccine to the chickenpox vaccine will complete the immune shield, helping people strengthen disease prevention.

Dr. Truong Huu Khanh, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Infectious Diseases Association, commented: “The herpes zoster vaccine prevents the reactivation of the virus that is latent in the nerve ganglia after chickenpox, thereby reducing the risk of herpes zoster and related complications. This is an active and effective preventive solution for people aged 50 or 18 and older at high risk of herpes zoster.”

According to Dr. Truong Huu Khanh, shingles vaccination has been widely recommended, in which GSK's vaccine is recommended for people aged 50 and over in most countries as well as priority and indication for people with immunodeficiency.

Up to now, VNVC is deploying the injection of 9 important vaccines of GSK: 6-in-1 vaccine Infanrix Hexa, pneumococcal vaccine 10 Synflorix, rotavirus diarrhea vaccine Rotarix, measles-mumps-rubella vaccine Priorix, chickenpox vaccine Varilrix, hepatitis A + B vaccine Twinrix, diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus vaccine Boostrix, new generation meningococcal B vaccine Bexsero and shingles vaccine Shingrix.

Since the beginning of 2024, VNVC has worked with the world's leading vaccine and pharmaceutical companies such as GSK, Pfizer, MSD, Takeda, etc. to bring to Vietnam 4 important disease prevention vaccines including the new generation meningococcal B vaccine, pneumococcal 23 vaccine, dengue fever vaccine and shingles vaccine, and implemented vaccination for children and adults at hundreds of VNVC centers nationwide.

The continuous introduction of new and important vaccines for the Vietnamese people demonstrates the determination and efforts to increase vaccine coverage, improve health and quality of life for children and adults in Vietnam, in addition to the good implementation of safe vaccination activities and high-quality services of VNVC.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/lan-dau-tien-trien-khai-tiem-vac-xin-zona-than-kinh-tai-viet-nam-d226604.html