Happy Easter!

Now that I am 65 I qualify for the shingles vaccine.

In fact, within days of my birthday earlier this month I was invited by my local surgery to make an appointment and yesterday I popped round to receive the first of two jabs.

The second is in six months and after that I should be protected for life, fingers crossed.

Shingles is unpleasant at the best of times, but I understand it gets progressively worse the older you are because the body finds it harder to fight the virus, which infects nerve endings and the skin around them.

This causes a painful rash and blisters on the skin, usually the torso, but sometimes on the face.

According to the NHS website, it can ‘sometimes lead to serious problems such as long-lasting pain, hearing loss or blindness’.

As it happens, I’ve had shingles before - in my early twenties - and I can vouch for the fact that it is extremely painful.

Thankfully I only had it for a month, but someone I knew through work wasn’t so lucky. He was an architect and was in his sixties when the virus struck.

He had it for 18 months which was extremely debilitating, although he was remarkably stoic about it.

I don’t know how long the shingles vaccine has been available but I didn’t think twice when it was offered, and while I was at the surgery yesterday the nurse gave me the vaccine for pneumonia too, so I ended up having a jab in both arms!

I was warned that an adverse reaction to the shingles vaccine might include a sore arm, headache, muscle pain, tiredness, nausea etc, but I seem to be OK.

My wife however has been persuaded that I need to rest for at least 24 hours and as she never reads this blog I’m looking forward to a quiet (and leisurely) day.

Happy Easter!