Shingles vaccination campaign offers older adults better protection and potentially guards against dementia

The Dutch government is launching a catch-up campaign to vaccinate people aged 61-69 against shingles, with an additional 400 million euros budgeted to protect all sixty-year-olds starting in 2027. So this is a significant shift - for years the vaccine was considered too expensive at around 400 euros per person, but now it's being offered for free nationwide, bringing the Netherlands in line with countries like Germany. The shingles vaccine is highly effective, preventing nine out of ten cases, and protects for at least twenty years after vaccination. And here's the thing - this move also addresses long-term complications like nerve pain that affects about a third of the 95,000 people who develop shingles each year.