EU agency appeals for take-up of flu vaccine

The EU’s disease prevention agency is urging people who are deemed to be at risk of becoming seriously ill to get vaccinated against influenza.

The appeal, by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), is aimed at the elderly and people with chronic medical conditions such as respiratory disease.

The ECDC has refused to make predictions on the severity of this year’s influenza season but said seasonal influenza needs to be taken seriously.

Zsuzsanna Jakab, director of Stockholm-based agency, said, “It is important that people with a higher risk of becoming seriously ill protect themselves by getting vaccinated.”

Figures published last week in the journal Eurosurveillance show significant differences in the percentage of elderly people vaccinated against influenza each year in different EU countries.

Several countries are on course to meet, or even exceed, the World Health Organization’s target of vaccinating 75 per cent of people aged 65 or over by 2010.

However, in many other countries, vaccine coverage among the elderly is well below the target level.
 
Jakab said: “We do not know how severe an influenza season we will have in Europe this winter, but it’s always a good idea if people in high risk groups get vaccinated.

“Older people, and people with chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, can become very ill with influenza, whichever strain of the virus they catch.”

Meanwhile, a network of doctors and laboratories across Europe is gearing up to monitor this year’s influenza season.
 
The laboratories will provide weekly updates on the number of influenza viruses they have found.

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