Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that shingles and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) can cause significant and debilitating pain for hundreds of thousands of Australians;

(2) acknowledges that senior Australians unfortunately bear the brunt of the disease burden, as the frequency and severity of complications increase with age;

(3) notes that approximately 1 in 3 adults will develop shingles in their lifetime and that the risk of shingles increases with age, particularly after the age of 60;

(4) recognises there is no cure for shingles and PHN;

(5) understands that prevention through vaccination represents the most effective opportunity to help reduce the number of Australians suffering from shingles and PHN; and

(6) acknowledges that preventative health measures such as vaccination will help protect the health of older Australians and safeguard their ability to work, care and volunteer.

I rise to speak on a well-known but little-talked-about illness that affects hundreds of thousands of mostly older Australians every year. Many of us will have had the childhood virus known as chickenpox. Chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. This virus is also responsible for the painful and common condition known as shingles.

Shingles is a painful, blistering rash that can occur on any part of the body after reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus. While the bands of blisters usually occur on the torso, they can also appear on the face and eyes.

Once someone has had chickenpox, the virus lies dormant in the tissue near the spinal cord and brain. It spreads by travelling up and down the nerves. Shingles is a very painful condition.

Anyone who has ever had chickenpox can develop shingles, and there are a number of risk factors to consider. However, the single biggest indicator of elevated risk of developing shingles is age. People over 50 years of age are far more likely to experience shingles. People living to 85 years of age have a one in two chance of experiencing shingles.

And for some people the pain of shingles does not disappear with the blisters. Postherpetic neuralgia, or long-term nerve pain, is a serious, debilitating condition which can last for years as a result of damaged nerve fibres. Those who have shingles on their face or eyes are more likely to suffer this ongoing complication. According to the Mayo Clinic, if blisters are experienced on or around the eye there is a strong risk of vision impairment. Depending on the extent of the nerve damage, shingles can also cause encephalitis, facial paralysis and hearing problems. This is a condition that can and does lead to very serious after-effects that can have a major impact on the quality of life of a sufferer.

There is no cure for shingles, so treatments include painkillers like codeine, tricyclic antidepressants, local anaesthetic and numbing agents. However, there is a vaccine available to help prevent shingles and PHN. While it may not prevent all cases of shingles from developing, it can help to reduce a case's duration and sensitivity.

However, the cost of the vaccination can be prohibitively expensive for older people. According to my local pharmacy, the cost is approximately $200 per treatment. Prior to the budget I had spoken to the health minister about the need for a shingles vaccine to be subsidised through the National Immunisation Program. After all, when we consider the value of our older Australians, through their volunteering, their work and their care for other family members, on top of what they have already contributed to our country, it seems only reasonable that we ease the costly burden of treating shingles by adding the vaccine to the program. That is why I was delighted when the Minister for Health announced, on 9 May, that Zostavax, a vaccine for the prevention of shingles and PHN, will be subsidised through the National Immunisation Program. This means that, from 1 November 2016, the vaccine will be provided free to older Australians aged 70 to 79.

This is the first adult vaccine to be made available in a decade. At an estimated cost to government of $100 million over four years, the new listing will help vaccinate up to 240,000 older Australians each year and 1.4 million through a five-year catch-up program.

In addition to the clear benefits to the quality of life, economic modelling predicts that the vaccine has the potential to reduce the cost of shingles to the Australian healthcare system by up to $31 million over the first five years of vaccinating Australians aged 70 to 79. This includes up to 3,800 hospitalisations, 32,000 prescriptions for antivirals and 131,000 GP visits.

While it is disappointing that the vaccine has not been provided sooner than November next year, I do applaud the health minister for listening and for then acting to ease the suffering of older Australians afflicted by this painful, debilitating but preventable disease. I commend this motion to the House.

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