Flu vaccine - HSE recommended groups 2017

Kurtosis

It's that time of year again, the start of the flu season. Below is information from the HSE on who should be vaccinated and how/where to get vaccinated. Further information is available on the HSE website here.

Who is most at risk from flu?

Anyone can get the flu but it is more severe in people aged 65 years and over and anyone with a chronic medical condition. Chronic medical conditions include chronic heart conditions, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes mellitus and immunosuppression due to disease or treatment including all cancer patients. Pregnant women have also been found to be at increased risk of the complications of flu. These groups of people are targeted for influenza vaccination.

Who should be vaccinated?

Vaccination is strongly recommended for:

• Persons aged 65 and over
• Those aged 6 months and older with a long-term health condition such as
  • Chronic heart disease (this includes anyone who has a history of having a "heart attack" or unstable angina)
  • Chronic liver disease
  • Chronic renal failure
  • Chronic respiratory disease, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis, moderate or severe asthma or bronchopulmonary dysplasia
  • Chronic neurological disease including multiple sclerosis, hereditary and degenerative disorders of the central nervous system
  • Diabetes mellitus
  • Down syndrome
  • Haemoglobinopathies
  • Morbid obesity i.e. body mass index (BMI) over 40
  • Immunosuppression due to disease or treatment (these include anyone on treatment for cancer)
• Children aged 6 months and older
  • with any condition that can affect lung function especially those attending special schools/day centres with cerebral palsy or intellectual disability
  • on long-term aspirin therapy (because of the risk of Reyes syndrome)
• Pregnant women (vaccine can be given at any stage of pregnancy)
• Healthcare workers
• Residents of nursing homes and other long stay institutions
• Carers (the main carers of those in the at risk groups)
• People with regular contact with pigs, poultry or water fowl.

How do I get vaccinated?

• People aged 18 years or older may attend either their GP or Pharmacist.
• People under 18 years of age should attend their GP for vaccination.

Please make an appointment now.

• The vaccine is free for all those in the recommended groups.
• The vaccine and consultation are free to those within the recommended groups who have a 'Medical Card' or 'Doctor Only Card'.
• Family doctors and Pharmacists charge a consultation fee for seasonal flu vaccination to those who do not have a 'Medical Card' or 'Doctor Only Card'.

Yellow River

An editorial in The Times by their health correspondent Chris Smyth (23rd November 2017) stated that last years flu vaccination was only 66% effective in children, 41% effective in adults and no effect on older people!

Arbie

Yellow River wrote: »

An editorial in The Times by their health correspondent Chris Smyth (23rd November 2017) stated that last years flu vaccination was only 66% effective in children, 41% effective in adults and no effect on older people!

I can't read the article as it's behind a paywall. The fact that vaccines may be "only" X% effective reinforces the need for everyone to get the flu shot.

Yellow River

If 10% or even 5% of people over the age of 65 yrs benefited from this flu vaccination I might give your notion of herd immunity so credence. But when 0% benefitted! Personally, I think I’ll pass on the offer when the quack recommends the flu shot next winter.

Arbie

Yellow River wrote: »

If 10% or even 5% of people over the age of 65 yrs benefited from this flu vaccination I might give your notion of herd immunity so credence. But when 0% benefitted! Personally, I think I’ll pass on the offer when the quack recommends the flu shot next winter.

Can you copy and paste the article here please so we can all read it and analyse it?

It's very unlikely that 0% of people over 65 benefitted.

Kurtosis

This article isn't actually behind a paywall, however it does require you to register with an email on The Times website.

It's actually very uninformative, the key line is probably:

Last year’s flu vaccine was 66 per cent effective in children and 41 per cent effective in adults under 65. However, it had no effect on older people.

It doesn't include any information on what is meant by effectiveness - is this cases of flu prevented, reduction in severity of symptoms and complications, or prevention of deaths due to influenza. There also isn't a clear source for the figures used and how they determined what the effect of the flu vaccine last year was (as in how they can deduce that the same number of cases/complications/deaths would have occurred had no older people been vaccinated). I'd be highly skeptical of anyone suggesting not to get vaccinated because of this article, particularly without scrutinising the basis for the claims made.

Speedwell

Know what? I am considered a super-nerdy American by my GP, who thinks I study big medical words just to impress him, lol. But this year I found out something I had never heard that is apparently common knowledge in the medical profession and basically unknown outside of it.

After you get your flu shot, don't take ibuprofen or other NSAIDs for two weeks afterward, while your body gradually builds the immune reaction.

Seriously. NSAIDs compromise the body's desired reaction to the jab. I mentioned to the nurse who gave me mine that I'd read about it, and she nodded. "Yes, you should take paracetamol instead", she said. I said, "Nobody knows about this. How many cases of 'vaccine not working' do you think this causes?". She looked a bit shocked for a minute, and then said, "I bet lots of them".

gctest50

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/641162/Influenza_vaccine_effectiveness_in_primary_care_1617_final.pdf





Be a wonky Australian version of H3N2 hitching a lift home with those coming home for Christmas - watch the herd get thinned out



then you have this :

http://bit.ly/2B2Qu7u


Hospital staff vaccine uptake

In 2015-2016, average influenza vaccine uptake for all hospital staff in 50 hospitals was 22.5% up from 21.3% from the previous season