Flu shots start this Tuesday

Flu pandemics are very different from Covid pandemics. But the two diseases have one thing in common: vaccination remains the best way to protect against them. Two weeks after that for Sars-CoV-2, the 2023 flu vaccination campaign starts this Tuesday and will run until January 31, 2024. As every year, the people called for vaccinations are the people most at risk of complications and therefore hospitalizations. But still something new appeared. “From now on seasonal flu vaccination can be offered to children aged 2 to 17 years years completed without comorbidities”, says Health Insurance. Free for people at risk, for others the vaccine is covered at 65% if it is given with a medical prescription.

“Childhood vaccination is primarily aimed at protecting the little ones there are immunocompromised children at risk of severe forms who are in school and, even when vaccinated, are not sufficiently protected.”privatizes P.^r: Bruno Lina, virologist at the Hospice Civils de Lyon in Lyon and member of the Commission for the Monitoring and Prediction of Health Risks (Covars). A study published this Tuesday Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin The French public health department finds that of the 987 serious flu cases admitted to intensive care during the 2022-2023 pandemic and recorded by the Sentinels network, 112 were under 15 years of age, including 71 between 0 and 4 years of age.

Children are also very good transmitters of the epidemic. “Children up to 15 years old years and in particular 2 to 5 years old years, are overrepresented among influenza cases seen in primary care and emergency department consultations. This reflects the fact that school-age children are the main driver of influenza transmission in the population.France’s public health recalled last February as part of work on extending the benefits of vaccination for children who have not been vaccinated against seasonal flu. This “altruistic” approach to vaccination has already been tested in other countries. “This has been done in Japan, for example, and more recently in the United Kingdom– explains Bruno Lina. The data collected in these countries have actually shown that vaccination of children can have a great impact on the circulation of viruses and the scale of epidemics, the virologist notes. “It is a paradigm shift in the way vaccination is discussed, and it will not be easy to implement in France, where unfortunately the measure of prevention is still poorly understood.”

Still far from the goals

Even among at-risk adults who can be vaccinated for free, the proportion of people vaccinated is still far from the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended target of 75%. Paradoxically, “People get vaccinated the most during the winter, when flu viruses have historically had the lowest circulation.”says P^r: Lina: In 2020, 60% of French people called to get the flu shot actually got the shot, an increase of 8 points compared to 2019. “Since then, vaccination rates have remained higher than pre-Covid levels, but have tended to decline.”however, the virologist notes.

The people most at risk of complications and entitled to free vaccination are the same as those invited to be vaccinated against Covid. obesity, and those living in a medico-social facility (EMS), regardless of their age. Vaccination is also recommended for healthcare workers and anyone who regularly comes into contact with the risk group. Specialists infected with swine and bird flu viruses will also be vaccinated this year. “To prevent the transmission of human influenza viruses to animals. It is a collective defense measure swine or avian viruses and this vaccination against human influenza may slow its circulation.’ states Health Insurance.

Four inactivated vaccines are available this year. All are quadrivalent and are directed against H1N1 Victoria strains, H3N2 Darwin A lineage, Victoria and Yamagata type B viruses. A situation that could change next year. “The WHO has just recommended a trivalent vaccine for vaccination in the Southern Hemisphereexplains P.^r: Lina: Indeed, the pedigree since the epidemic B Yamagata has disappeared. That “old» the virus, barriers and widely accepted gestures of prohibition have undoubtedly contributed to its demise.