Public health bosses are urging people aged between 70 and 78 in Salford to get a vaccine to prevent the painful shingles infection.
Older people in Salford are eligible for a free injection throughout the year but is most often taken up in winter at around the same time as the flu vaccination.
An episode of shingles typically lasts around two to four weeks and the main symptoms are pain, followed by a rash.
The infection is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (chickenpox), which is commonly caught in childhood.
The virus can lie dormant in the nervous tissue but can reappear when you are older.
Those who were eligible for immunisation in the first two years of the programme but have not yet been vaccinated against shingles remain eligible until their 80th birthday. These are people aged 71, 72 or 79 on 1 September 2015.
Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at Public Health England said: “It’s worth taking the time and effort to visit your doctor to get the shingles vaccine as it protects you against a painful condition. You only need to be vaccinated once and it’s important that you get it while you’re the right age.
“We offer the shingles vaccine routinely to individuals at the age of 70 years to boost their immunity to prevent the development of shingles and significantly reduce the incidence of post herpetic neuralgia – persistent nerve pain that can occur at the site of a previous attack of shingles.
“Since the introduction of the shingles vaccine there has been a considerable reduction in the number of cases of this debilitating and painful condition.”
