Backing the recommendation of experts, the government is planning on a vaccination program against shingles for millions of people in their seventies, which patients groups believe would halve the number of cases. However, the relatively high cost of the vaccine is the only remaining stumbling block.

Every year, approximately 250, 000 people in the UK are affected by shingles, with many going on to suffer from debilitating nerve pain.

As well, apart from long-term pain, those of the elderly with a shingles infection can become quite incapable of caring for themselves.

A vaccine for the condition would to a long way in helping save money that is currently spent on extra care for those affected with an illness caused by herpes varicella zoster virus, responsible for chickenpox in children. Typically, it infects a nerve and the skin around it, usually on one side of the body, causing suffering in about one in five people at a later stage.

While, chicken-pox infection in childhood may recede, it is possible for the virus to remain dormant in the body, re-emerging in later life, perhaps, triggered by a lowered immune system. Its re-emergence can result in painful sores and rashes, and postherpetic pain that persists for months or years in some patients.

The Joint Committee that advises the government on Vaccination and Immunisation, recommends the vaccine for those aged 70 to 79-years, though saying more work is needed for making the vaccine cost-effective.

According to the Department of Health calculations up to four million people may need to be immunized against the unpleasant illness that can prove to be very serious for older people.

A vaccination programme could improve the quality of life for those in their 70s by offering protection against shingles.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said the vaccination program dependent on negotiating a fair price, ideally should begin before the year-end to be effective.

Zostavax, is the only vaccine in use globally marketed for people from 60 upwards for shingles prevention. Though treatable with anti-viral drugs, shingles is extremely debilitating hospitalizing sufferers, however, vaccination against it could last for about seven years, keeping the unendurable misery at bay.

Around 30% of shingles sufferers develop post-herpetic neuralgia, and can also lead to impaired or lost vision in one eye, including scarring from the blisters. In 2008, it was also listed as the main cause of death in 100 people in England and Wales.