The Grey Bruce Medical Officer of Health welcomes the province's move to provide free shingles vaccine for eligible seniors.
It's now available for free to seniors between 65 and 70.
Dr. Christine Kennedy says shingles is a virus that can cause painful cold sores so providing the vaccine for free will relieve much suffering.
"Some people are unlucky enough to experience significant pain associated with those lesions and others are even more unlucky to experience chronic pain," says Kennedy.
Providing the vaccine for free simplifies the process of getting it whereas before, people had to get a prescription for the vaccine, fill it at a pharmacy and pay for it and then take it back to a doctor for injection.
Now it's just a simple matter for a patient to book a doctor's appointment to get the vaccine.