The Health Service Executive (HSE) has urged at-risk groups to get the flu vaccine as figures show uptake among pensioners had fallen last year.
This season’s flu vaccine protects against three common flu strains which the World Health Organisation (WHO) expects to be circulating this year, the HSE said.
The executive added the virus strains in the vaccine had changed since last year.
Just 56.5 per cent of those over 65 with medical or GP cards received their free flu vaccine in the 2011/2012 season. This was below the 60 per cent uptake the previous year and well below the World Health Organisation target of 75 per cent.
The vaccine and consultation is free for those in the at-risk groups with a Medical Card or GP Visit Card. The HSE also provides the vaccine free to those in at-risk groups at GPs and pharmacies, but they may have to pay a consultation fee.
Every year, many people in at-risk groups do not get vaccinated and are not protected, head of the HSE’s National Immunisation Office Dr Brenda Corcoran said today.
“The vaccine reduces infection and associated illnesses and hospitalisation. Flu is very infectious and can cause potentially serious illnesses especially for older people, those who have a chronic illness and pregnant women," she said.
The HSE has identified five at-risk groups which need to be vaccinated against the seasonal flu: people aged over 65, pregnant women, nursing home and long-stay facility residents, children on long-term aspirin therapy and anyone with long-term illnesses such as diabetes.
Some in the at-risk groups may also need pneumococcal vaccine, which most people only get once, the HSE said.
It has also urged frontline healthcare workers to get the vaccine, both to protect themselves and to prevent spreading flu to vulnerable patients. The vaccine is available free to healthcare workers from their occupational health department.
Dr Corcoran hoped the increased access at pharmacies would encourage more people to receive the flu jab. The remit of pharmacists to provide free HSE flu vaccinations has this season been extended to all at-risk groups.
Last year there were errors in flu vaccinations given by pharmacists to some 489 patients, mainly caused by incorrect measuring instructions given to some pharmacists during training.
However, the pharmacy union has compelled all pharmacists offering the dosage to undergo retraining so they will know what to do, Dr Corcoran said. She clarified that everyone aged over six months receives the same-sized dosage of the vaccine.
Last year a flu outbreak claimed the lives of seven elderly residents at a Co Donegal nursing home. Dr Corcoran said the strain which claimed the lives in Donegal was not contained in the vaccine last year. The annual flu vaccine is a scientifically based prediction of the strains which the WHO expects to be most common, she said.
“Even a poor match is better than nothing and we estimate effectiveness at 70 per cent or better,” she said. It was “unusual” that the flu season kept going until April or May last year. People receiving the vaccine now will be covered for the whole year, she added.
Dr Corcoran said there was no link between the current flu vaccine and incidence of narcolepsy. The Pandremix swine flu vaccine issued in 2009 and 2010 resulted in at least 25 cases of narcolepsy in Irish children.
Dr Corcoran said the current flu vaccine was “completely different” . The swine flu strain had been incorporated into the routine seasonal flu vaccine which was created in a different way to Pandremix, had been around for over 60 years and was never associated with narcolepsy, she said.
Dr Corcoran added the symptoms of flu usually developed over a few hours and included high temperature, sore muscles, dry cough, headache and sore throat.
She said flu was spread by coughing and sneezing, and urged people to stop the spread by covering their nose and mouth with a tissue, by disposing of the tissue and by washing their hands.
