Flu season exceptionally heavy, and seniors forgot to vaccinate

"Influenza in the onslaught" - experts of the National Program for Combating Infectious Diseases discussed the epidemiological situation, but also the problem of influenza vaccination, in an intervention briefing on Thursday. A problem because, despite changes in vaccine funding, the vaccination rate of the population has declined and to return to pre-pandemic COVID-19 levels. About 5 percent of the population has been vaccinated since September. Particularly worrisome is the decline in the vaccination of seniors. - We were approaching 25 percent at the time of the pandemic, at the moment vaccinated are approx. 17 percent of people over the age of 65," the doctors pointed out. This is dire news, because it is in this age group that the risk of severe disease, its complications and death is highest. And while Prof. Adam Antczak admitted that the intensity of the current flu season and the number of flu cases can hardly be linked to low vaccination rates, the number of deaths is already closely linked to the fact that "seniors have forgotten to vaccinate." As he stressed, there are actually many more deaths due to influenza - because in normal seasons several thousand people die due to influenza and its complications, only that cardiovascular diseases are (primarily) identified as the cause of death.

According to Dr. Pawel Grzesiowski, Chief Sanitary Inspector, all indications are that the peak incidence was in late January and early February, and at the moment the weekly number of infections has stabilized at a high level, but has not been increasing for three weeks. Perhaps the beginning of March (the end of the last round of holidays) will bring a rebound, but the hope is that it will not be large. However, the flu season may continue even into April, so doctors stress that it makes sense to get vaccinated all the time. The topic of vaccination, by the way, resounded most strongly during the briefing, as there is no doubt that there is plenty to think about. - We have demolished the financial barrier, but built a wall of accessibility," lamented Professor Agnieszka Mastalerz-Migas, national consultant in family medicine. Immunizations are not available to patients where they should be most available, i.e. in the PCP - a patient can use them, but for a fee, because vaccines in the PCP are not reimbursed. If he wants to have a vaccination according to his reimbursement, he has to go to the pharmacy with a prescription from his doctor and return with the vaccine to the dispensary. He can also - as of mid-February - completely skip the PCP clinic (but this only applies to seniors) and get vaccinated from A to Z at the pharmacy. However, the expert pointed out that this only seemingly simplifies the path to vaccination, as there are about a thousand pharmacies that carry out vaccinations. Influenza (and other) vaccinations should be available on an identical basis at POZ and pharmacies, so that a person convinced to vaccinate does not have to make an effort to get vaccinated and it is easy to vaccinate those who have been persuaded to vaccinate.