Immune-booster flujabwon’tbe given to over-65s
HSE offers more basic vaccine that can’t stop Japanese strain
A NEW, super-charged flu vaccine for elderly people which is being rolled out in the UK this winter, will not be offered in Ireland, the HSE has confirmed.
It comes as last year’s flu vaccine failed to work for the vast majority of people here and in the UK, making it the worst year in seven for flu deaths. In Ireland 222 people died of flu last year, their average age was 81.
The NHS response in the UK has been to introduce a new vaccine specifically aimed at people over 65 whose immune response to standard vaccines is less strong.
That vaccine contains agents that boost the immune response and
‘As good as anything else available’
make the vaccine more effective and long-lasting. The NHS says the jab is ‘more effective, and highly cost-effective’ in over-65s and research suggests hundreds of UK flu deaths could be avoided each year by switching to it.
However the HSE says that after careful consideration and on the advice of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee, it has procured a different vaccine.
Its three-strain ‘trivalent inactivated seasonal influenza vaccine Influvac’ manufactured by Mylan, will be available for all those in the recommended at-risk groups.
A spokeswoman told the Irish Mail on Sunday there ‘will always be an element of science-based best guess when it comes to flu vaccination given the wide range of possible types and the virus’s ability to mutate’.
‘Our patterns of flu very often follow those experienced in Australia, in their winter,’ she said. ‘It seems, based on the strains prevalent here that the vaccine being used in Ireland offers as good, in terms of potential protection to the strains circulating, as anything else available currently. We would encourage all those in the at-risk groups to avail of it.’
She confirmed this is the only flu vaccine available in the HSE 2018/19 flu vaccine programme.
However under-65s in the UK will also be offered a vaccine which can protect against four different strains of flu including Japanese flu and H3N2.
A HSE spokeswoman said that quadrivalent flu vaccination is available here ‘but people would have to pay for it privately’.
Professor Paul Digard, chair of Virology and Head of the Infection and Immunity Division at The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, says health services are ‘always playing a prediction game with the vaccines’.
‘Last year, the strains that made their way here weren’t a match for the vaccine which was manufactured well in advance.
‘In addition, experts failed to predict the impact of a second strain of flu, an influenza B virus known as Japanese or Yamagata flu linked to six out of ten flu-related hospital admissions – and although a vaccine for this did exist, many people were not given it.’
Despite this, doctors urge those over-65, schoolchildren, and people with long-term health conditions that make flu complications more likely to get the vaccine. In fact, they claim there is more reason than ever to do so.