It is rare for someone under the age of 12 to get shingles while people over the age of 50 are most at risk, according to the WA Department of Health.

The department said shingles is a viral infection caused by the varicella zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox and is a common health condition in older people.

Shingles is also more common in people with a poor immune system resulting from other medical conditions.

During Shingles week retired football players such as Robert ‘Dipper’ DiPierdomenico and Brendan Fevola often share their experiences.

But Yanchep News Online is here to tell you there are people much closer to home, who are keen to advise people over 50, that getting shingles is no fun.

Last year Yanchep News Online was in the ironical situation of being diagnosed with shingles a few days before Shingles awareness week got underway so was still experiencing blisters and pain while working on my computer to publish information about shingles.

But having seen my mum go through a long and painful bout of shingles I recognised the rash straight away and luckily got to see a doctor the next day and was put on anti-viral medication, which really helps but only if they are taken in the early stages of the infection.

So I reckon I probably got a relatively mild dose and think the medication did what it was meant to, which is reduce the healing time of blisters, stop new blisters developing and shorten the length of time someone is in pain.

Even so I was surprised at the amount of pain I felt.

In my case the pain was in my right shoulder and around to the back of my neck and a little way into the back of my head.

This made working on a computer and even driving painful.

Although my pain wasn’t constant it did persist for weeks and in the past 12 months whenever I have felt really stressed or exhausted the pain starts to return so following a discussion with my doctor I recently had a shingles vaccination.

According to GlaxoSmithKline Australia, AFL legend Brendan Fevola and his father, Angelo, have both had shingles and during Shingles action week they have urged at-risk Australians to understand their personal risk and have more informed conversations with their GP or pharmacist.

Brendan was hit unexpectedly during the peak of his career, forcing him to pause training.

More recently in 2025, he watched his father, Angelo, experience shingles while also managing an autoimmune condition that can affect the immune system.

Both father and son described shingles as among the worst pain they had ever experienced, significantly disrupting their day-to-day lives.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing said free shingles vaccination under the national immunisation program is available for eligible people at moderate to high risk of severe illness and complications from shingles.

A 2-dose course of Shingrix® is free for people aged 65 years and over, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50 years and over and also people 18 years and over considered at increased risk of shingles due to an underlying condition and/or immunomodulatory/immunosuppressive treatments.

The Shingles action week campaign is sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline Australia.

This article appeared on Yanchep News Online on 28 February 2026.