Rolling out an adult vaccination programme would reduce the country’s reliance on antibiotics, save the health service money long-term and save lives, a new position paper has said.
Former deputy chief medical officer Ronan Glynn, who is now the health lead at EY and author of the report, said the importance of adult vaccination will become more acute as the country’s population continues to age.
The report, which was commissioned by pharmaceutical company GSK, and will be launched at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland on Wednesday night, called for a stand-alone national adult immunisation strategy.
Speaking in advance of its publication, Mr Glynn said there has always been recognition of the importance of vaccination but said “people are living older and more people are living with chronic diseases and so there are greater consequences if they do get diseases”.
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The number of people aged 65 and over in Ireland is expected to double by 2051.
“So while there has always been awareness, the benefit of vaccination is growing more and more over time,” he said.
“Flu is a really good example. Every year up to 500 people in Ireland die from flu and thousands are admitted to hospital every winter. While vaccination won’t remove that risk entirely, it lessens the severity and impact both on individuals and the health system when it’s under the most pressure.”
Among the paper’s recommendations, the authors call for increased vaccination points nationwide such as in pharmacies, workplaces, hospitals and mobile clinics; including education on immunisation on the school curriculum; and implementing a “comprehensive” immunisation IT system.
Mr Glynn said it was also important to ensure communication around vaccine schedules and benefits was clear and concise, in a bid to combat vaccine hesitancy, which has been deemed one of the top 10 global health threats by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“Offering people opportunities to ask questions and to answer their concerns in very important. But generally speaking, we do have a public that are very on board with vaccines. But you can’t be complacent.”
The report does not focus on specific vaccines. Instead it looks at the system of adult vaccination, making reference to a number of jabs including shingles, flu, pneumococcal and RSV, among others.
Prof Karina Butler, UCD clinical professor of paediatrics and former chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC), said the importance of adult vaccination is “often under-recognised”.
“Like all of us, we’re going through and we’re healthy. We’ve had our childhood vaccinations and we don’t need it. But the reality is risk increases by age, it’s a stepwise increase,” she said.
“We saw the benefit of vaccination of adults during the pandemic when we had the Covid vaccines. Without vaccines, it is estimated there would have been another 9,000 to 10,000 deaths.”
