Multiples are considering training their pharmacy staff to provide a new shingles vaccine after limited stock became available in the UK, C+D has learned.

Sixty thousand doses of Zostavax, a single-dose shingles vaccine from Sanofi Pasteur MSD, are now available for patients aged over 50 on private prescription.

Lloydspharmacy said it was aware of the vaccine, which costs £99.96, and was considering offering it through its pharmacy vaccination programme.

"We are considering the option of offering this [but] plans have not been finalised as the vaccine requires subcutaneous injection which would result in additional training for our staff," said a Lloydspharmacy spokesperson.

The Co-operative Pharmacy confirmed it was also in discussions about whether it could provide the shingles vaccine, but said a final decision had not yet been made.

Sixty thousand doses of Zostavax are now available for patients aged over 50 on private prescription

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The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended introducing a singles vaccination programme for people aged 70-79 years old, if it is cost-effective. But following discussions with the Department of Health (DH), Sanofi Pasteur MSD said it had concluded that private provision represented the "only viable option" to enable people in the UK to have access to the limited stocks of the shingles vaccine.

The discussions had been unable to find a sub-group of patients that could be offered the shingles vaccine using the established NHS distribution system, the manufacturer said.

"The shingles vaccine is a complex vaccine to manufacture and, for the time being, we simply don't have enough Zostavax to meet the needs of a nationwide vaccination programme," said Richard Stubbins, vice-president of Sanofi Pasteur MSD in the UK.

"After facing some difficult choices, we are pleased to make the vaccine available privately so that people can access it," he said.

One in four people will have an episode of shingles during their life-time, and in up to one in five cases patients will develop severe and long-lasting pain, the manufacturer said.