Sir, – The cost to the public of the two-dose shingles vaccine is indeed a significant deterrent, as rightly pointed out by Jean Saunders (Letters, June 26th).
While the medical service component of the shingles vaccine is exempt from VAT, the actual vaccine purchase costs to the pharmacy and to the patient are subject to VAT at the standard rate of 23 per cent. This adds significantly to an already expensive medication, the cost of which is not reimbursed to patients, yet forms part of the HSE’s public health advice.
While some progress has been made recently in this area with VAT on non-oral forms of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and non-oral forms of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) reducing to 0 per cent, the shingles vaccine, remains in the cold (and in the fridge!).
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is on the Dáil record as saying that the “Tax Strategy Group Paper on Value Added Tax (VAT) published in July 2022 noted that Ireland could extend the zero VAT rate that currently applies to certain oral medicines to non-oral medicines” but “the chief consideration for the Department of Health in making any such requests [ie no VAT on such injectables] to the Minister for Finance is the benefit to public health.”
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The prominent radio advert campaign, mentioned by Ms Saunders, requesting our over-50s to be shingles vaccinated presumably means that the clinical decision has been made. Now what about the VAT decision? – Yours, etc,
Dr THEO RYAN,
Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice,
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical
Sciences,
Trinity College Dublin,
Dublin 2.
Sir, – I cannot believe the price of the shingles vaccine – €600 for two doses. I wouldn’t wish this painful viral infection on my worst enemy! – Yours, etc,
CATHERINE MURRAY,
Dublin 14.