About subsidy for the cost of shingles vaccination (optional vaccination)

Since October 2023, Inagi City has been using subsidies from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to partially cover the cost of voluntary shingles vaccinations (vaccinations not based on the Vaccination Act). However, from April 2025, the shingles vaccine is expected to become a routine vaccination based on the Vaccination Act.

Those eligible for regular vaccinations will be people aged 65 years or older, people aged 60 to 64 years old who have immune dysfunction due to the human immunodeficiency virus, and, as a five-year transitional measure, people aged 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, and 100 years old (those aged 100 years or older will only be eligible in fiscal year 2025).

If you are outside the target age range (50-64 years old, 66-69 years old, etc.) and would like to be vaccinated early, please consider consulting with a designated medical institution in Inagi City by January 2025 and using the current subsidy system to receive the vaccination, as it is expected that the metropolitan government's subsidy may end. In addition, in the case of inactivated vaccines, two vaccinations are required, and the second vaccination can be administered two months after the first vaccination in principle, so the first vaccination must be administered within January.

Note: The documents required to receive the current subsidy system ("Notice regarding cost subsidies" and "Subsidy coupons (and vaccination pre-examination forms)") are available at designated medical institutions in Inagi City . If you wish to be vaccinated, please apply directly to the designated medical institution. (They will not be sent to your home.)

Please check the details of the grant below.

Those who meet all of the following conditions as of the date of vaccination (1) Those who are registered as residents of Inagi City (2) Those who are 50 years of age or older (3) Those who have never received a subsidy for this shingles vaccine voluntary vaccination direction

From Monday, April 1, 2020 to Monday, March 31, 2020

About either vaccine to advocate next, we support a part of inoculation expense.
Please pay the difference between the vaccination cost set by the designated medical institution and the subsidy amount to the designated medical institution.

Note 1: You can only receive financial assistance once in your lifetime (1 live vaccine or 2 inactivated vaccines).
Note 2: There is no copayment exemption for welfare recipients.
Note 3: Those who only have a preliminary examination are excluded from the subsidy.
Note 4: From the first inoculation, if you inoculate the second time from 2 months to 6 months later, you will be eligible for the subsidy. If you inoculate after this period, you will not be eligible for the furtherance.

(1) "Information about cost subsidy" and "subsidy ticket (and vaccination ticket)" will be installed at designated medical institutions in the city. Please make an appointment and visit the designated medical institution directly. Note: Application to the city is not required.
(2) At the designated medical institution, please read the "Notice Regarding Expense Subsidy" carefully, fill in the necessary items on the "subsidy ticket (cum-vaccination pre-examination form)", and present your identity verification document at the counter. In addition, if you are vaccinated for the second time, please be sure to bring something that shows the history of the first vaccination (herpes zoster vaccination certificate, etc.).
(3) Please pay the difference between the vaccination cost set by the designated medical institution and the subsidy amount to the designated medical institution.

Designated medical institutions in Inagi City (as below)
Note: If you wish to receive the vaccination at a medical institution outside the city due to unavoidable circumstances, you will need to apply in advance, so please contact the Health Center. Please note that inquiries regarding out-of-town vaccinations should be made after the start date of the subsidy.

There are two types of vaccines that can be administered:

Note: For those who are considered to be at high risk of contracting herpes zoster, the interval between the 1st and 2nd doses can be shortened to 1 month at the discretion of the doctor.

At a designated medical institution in Inagi City, you will receive a "[Optional Vaccination] Notification of Inagi City Shingles Vaccination Expense Subsidy" together with the "subsidy ticket (cum-vaccination pre-examination form)". Please read in advance, fully understand the necessity of vaccination and side effects, and be sure to get vaccinated.

- If you are receiving a live vaccine, you must leave an interval of at least 27 days between receiving other injectable live vaccines (measles, rubella, etc.).
- Inactivated vaccines can be administered at the same time as other vaccines if a doctor deems it particularly necessary.

Shingles vaccination is treated as a vaccination not based on the Vaccination Law (voluntary vaccination). If this vaccination causes health damage, such as an illness that requires hospitalization or a disability that severely limits daily life, please be aware that the be eligible for relief under the ``Relief System.'' In addition, the National Association of Mayors' vaccination accident compensation insurance may apply. First, please contact the Inagi City Health Division (Health Center).

Shingles is a disease in which rashes (blisters) with blisters appear in strips along the nerves distributed in the skin. Two to three days before the blisters appear, itching and pain may occur, and after about a week, symptoms such as multiple blisters, fever, and headache may appear. Skin symptoms usually subside in 2 to 4 weeks.
When chickenpox is contracted in childhood, the varicella-zoster virus remains latent in the body for a long time, and when the immune system weakens due to aging or fatigue, it develops as "herpes zoster". In addition, post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), which remains painful for a long time even after the skin symptoms have healed, may occur.
Since more than 90% of adults have antibodies to the varicella-zoster virus, which causes shingles, it is thought that most people are already infected, and everyone is at risk of developing shingles. there is.

For prevention, it is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle as much as possible. Make sure you eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep. Furthermore, for those aged 50 and over, vaccination is expected to prevent the onset and severity of the disease.
The mainstay of treatment is antiviral drugs that suppress the replication of the virus. Early administration is said to be effective, so if blisters appear after itching or pain, see a doctor as soon as possible.

Currently, there are two types of herpes zoster vaccine (Shingrix and Biken), and there are differences in efficacy and inoculation targets, so be sure to consult your doctor.

Without subsidy, from Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Vaccine Subcommittee materials, vaccine instruction manual, and package insert (Effectiveness for prevention of onset is for people aged 50 to 59)