Good Health
A FLU JAB COULD ALSO PROTECT YOU AGAINST COVID
FOR many people, getting the annual flu jab is nothing more than an irritating chore — and nearly a third of those who need it don’t bother. This year, though, there is more reason than ever to get the flu vaccine — for the latest research suggests it could also offer some vital protection against Covid-19.
It comes as a new, large trial is launched to see whether the widely used BCG vaccine against TB could also help protect healthcare workers against coronavirus.
Yet, just as experts hailed the flu jab findings as ‘ great news’, worrying cracks have appeared in this year’s flu vaccine campaign which could mean delays for some in need of the jab and, potentially, no NHS jab at all for others.
This year’s immunisation plan is the largest ever undertaken. GP sand pharmacies are racing to vaccinate as many people as they can against flu in the next two months to help prevent the health service collapsing under the joint burden of a flu outbreak and Covid-19.
The worry is many more lives will be lost if people catch flu and corona virus together. A Public Health England study showed that the risk of death doubles if that happens.
But it’s not simply that a flu jab might prevent a double whammy of infection: ground-breaking research suggests flu vaccines may also be able to prime the immune system to attack and destroy invading coronavirus, too, reducing Covid deaths by more than a third.
Two key studies — in Italy and in Brazil, which between them looked at more than 100,000 patients — found that routine flu vaccination cut Covid-19 hospital admissions and the need for intensive care among those infected. THE researchers behind the findings, at Milan University in Italy and Sao Paulo University in Brazil, said the evidence was so compelling that all governments should pursue flu vaccine campaigns as one of the best ways to protect populations against coronavirus.
‘This is great news and means the flu vaccination campaign is even more crucial,’ says Peter Open shaw, a professor of experimental medicine. ‘These findings, from studies involving large numbers of people, are really important.
‘ It means the flu jab is now also a weapon in terms of coronavirus prevention.
It’s potentially one of the few effective measures we can undertake this winter.’
For the Italian study, published in the journal Vaccines, researchers studied coronavirus rates in the over-65s to compare infection rates, hospital admissions and deaths from the virus in areas with high flu vaccine uptake and areas where few people got the jab.
The results showed that in areas where fewer than 30 per cent of eligible patients were immunised against flu, the mortality rate from Covid-19 was around 150 for every 100,000 of the population.
But in regions where uptake hit 70 per cent, deaths totalled no more than ten per 100,000 population.
The Brazil study tracked more than 90,000 Covid patients and found mortality rates were up to 35 per cent lower among those who received a flu jab compared to those who didn’t.
Both teams concluded that the most likely explanation is that flu vaccines somehow rev up the immune system enough to at least slow the march of coronavirus. Most of the 100 or so Covid-19 vaccines being developed are made either with traces of the ‘spike’ protein found on the surface of the virus, or fragments of its genetic material. The idea is the immune system recognises the virus material in the vaccines as foreign and creates infectionfighting cells (known as antibodies and T-cells) to fight Covid-19. Such vaccines are designed to work against Covid19 and nothing else. But earlier this year, Good Health reported how scientists were investigating evidence that vaccines unrelated to coronavirus also seemed to be reducing rates of infection and deaths.
Two in particular — the MMR (mumps, measles, rubella) jab and the BCG vaccine — were generating excitement among scientists. They are made with ‘ live’ but weakened versions of the viruses or bacteria they target.
This ‘live’ element appears to put the whole immune system on alert. Scientists liken it to an army having all its average-shot sentries on duty, rather than a couple of expert snipers.
But what is puzzling about the latest findings is that the flu vaccines used in Italy and Brazil do not contain any live material.
‘The vaccines seem to be training the immune system to react to coronavirus, rather than creating new antibodies or T-cells to fight infection — which is normally how a vaccine for a specific pathogen works,’ says Professor Openshaw.
Dr Rupert Payne, a consultant senior lecturer in primary healthcare, adds: ‘Maybe the flu vaccination somehow boosts the immune system’s ability to clear the virus, or reduces the excessive immune response we see in those patients requiring intensive care.’
Professor Openshaw says it is now even more essential that all those who are in an at risk category get the vaccine but that everyone should try to be vaccinated against the flu this winter.
However, supplies of the vaccine have been delayed by distribution issues due to a global shortage because of increased demand this year.
The Irish Pharmacies Union has expressed concern about the shortages.
‘Unfortunately, it is still not clear when or if these supply issues will be fully resolved,’ says IPU Secretary General Darragh O’Loughlin said.
‘This has serious potential to undermine this year’s vaccination programme, the one year when we need it most. It is disheartening to all those involved that ongoing vaccine shortages are stymieing the service and i nformation remains elusive.
‘ This year has seen a huge increase in requests for flu vaccination, which is encouraging, except that many pharmacies and GPs are unable to procure enough vaccines.
‘ The fact that we can’t tell patients exactly when we will have vaccines available is leading to huge amounts of uncertainty and frustration, with people fed up of having t heir appointments rescheduled or cancelled due to the shortage of vaccines.
‘This has serious potential to undermine this year’s vaccination programme, the one year when we need it most. It is disheartening to all those involved that ongoing vaccine shortages are stymieing the service and i nformation remains elusive.’
Pharmacy chains such as Boots temporarily suspended bookings for both free and paid-for jabs when stocks had to be replenished as they were immunising ten times as many customers as last year.
This is causing an issue as many now will not be able to get an appointment for a flu jab until November or December, j ust weeks ahead of flu season peak in January.
As it takes two weeks for the vaccine to become effective, this could cause an issue for the immunity of many of those who need to get the injection but as yet have not been able to get into their pharmacist or GP.
But statistics from Australia are evidence that it is still important to try. An indication of the difference the major new flu vaccine programme might make can be seen in what’s happened in Australia, where recordbreaking vaccination numbers have helped suppress flu this year.
There were under 21,000 confirmed cases of flu and just 36 deaths between January and the end of June this year — compared with almost 120,000 cases of flu and 231 deaths in the same period last year.
Virologist Professor John Oxford says ‘it would be a very sensible conclusion’ that the vaccination drive has helped. He adds: ‘ We should learn from what has happened in Australia — how to encourage people who haven’t been vaccinated before to come forward and have the vaccine.’