‘Flu could do more harm than Covid’
‘YOUNGEST AT RISK OF BECOMING SERIOUSLY UNWELL’
MORE preschool-aged children in Wales need to have the flu vaccine to reduce their risk of becoming seriously unwell.
That’s according to Public Health Wales’ Dr Chris Johnson who has warned that influenza has the potential to cause far more damage to under fives than Covid-19.
He admitted that take-up of the nasal spray vaccine in two and three year olds in particular needed to improve not just for their own safety, but to reduce transmission to older age groups.
“While for Covid we are much less worried about serious outcomes for children, in flu serious outcomes are there for children as well,” said Dr Johnson, consultant epidemiologist and interim head of Public Health Wales’ Vaccine Preventable Disease Programme.
“The under fives age group are most likely to be hospitalised as a result of the complications of flu. When you have bronchitis and bacterial pneumonias, that’s a very serious thing that will lead to hospitalisation in a child.”
Dr Johnson said one of the reasons why take up in this younger age group is typically lower than the Welsh average is due to the great success of the rollout in schools.
He added: “When it’s delivered in school it’s very accessible. It’s very easy for the parents to consent to their child being given the two squirts up the nose. Last year we saw take-up in excess of 70% for the school’s flu programme.
“What we need to do is get the message out to parents of younger children, especially in that two and three era age group, that it really is important that they make those appointments, that they go to see a doctor or nurse who would deliver it within within the GP practice.”
In addition, Dr Johnson said children are “significant spreaders” of flu and by having the vaccine they will reduce passing it onto their loved ones and others in their community.
“By vaccinating the two to three year olds and school-aged children, not only are we protecting them from the harm of flu, but we make it much less likely that they will give it to their parents and their grandparents who really have that risk of flu and Covid together,” he added.
This autumn and winter the flu vaccine will be available free on the NHS to more than 1.5m people in Wales – the highest number in history. It is being extended to everyone aged over 50 and between school years 7 and 11.
Vaccination is particularly important for those who are older, pregnant or have a health condition.
Dr Johnson has warned that two strains of flu – type A and type B – are already circulating in Wales and have led to people being hospitalised.
“The figures we’re seeing are entirely in line with with the idea that we are going to have a flu season. What we are seeing is how a flu season would start in a normal year and we would expect that will increase now over the winter months. The peak of flu activity would normally be expected around January or February.”
He said he was “really concerned” about the fact coronavirus rates are still dangerously high across Wales.
“For adults, the people who are at risk of severe complications of Covid are the same people who are at severe risk of severe complications from flu – and as a result you don’t want those two peaks to come together,” he added.
“We know that your outcomes are around 10% worse if you get flu and Covid at the same time. We will see more hospitalisations and deaths if people have co-infection.”
Dr Johnson said people should not delay having their flu vaccine.
“If you’re offered one, take it. There’s no gap needed between Covid and flu vaccinations, so it’s safe to have them on consecutive days, or even the same day.”
When asked about whether there were any staffing issues when it came to administering both Covid and flu jabs at the same time, Dr Johnson added: “There are a wider range of people delivering the flu jab than the Covid jab so they’re not quite the same workforce.
“The flu jab is also available in community pharmacies.”
As there was virtually no flu season last autumn and winter due to lockdown, Dr Johnson admitted more people could be “susceptible” to flu this time around.
“It’s not necessarily that the consequences of getting flu would be worse; just that we might have more cases of it,” he said. “That has to be balanced against the fact that last year we had the most successful flu vaccination campaign ever. We vaccinated more people and protected more people than ever before.
“So while there was less natural flu about there was more flu vaccination about, and quite how that translates into what happens as this flu season grows is difficult to predict.”