What are the challenges of the flu vaccination campaign?

• This Friday officially begins the annual vaccination campaign against seasonal flu in France.

• A campaign that is of particular importance this year.

• Between the coupling with the booster doses of the coronavirus, and the fear of an influenza epidemic outbreak, the flu vaccination must be a success.

This Friday, the annual flu vaccination campaign begins, four days ahead of schedule.

A rush far from being due to chance: after the success of the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus (86.2% of the eligible population is fully vaccinated), here is another vaccination which cuts across high stakes.

"After two years of Covid, two years without the flu, we must prepare for the '' co-circulation ''" of the viruses of Covid-19, bronchiolitis and seasonal flu, said Thursday Jérome Salomon, director General of Health.

takes stock.

What are the consequences of an influenza epidemic?

In normal times, that is to say before the coronavirus, the flu epidemic broke out every year between autumn and winter.

It mainly affects people over 65 and people suffering from co-morbidities (asthma, diabetes, heart failure, AIDS, etc.).

The death toll varies each year, although there is usually a low year and a high year.

“On average, there are 10,000 deaths each year in France as a result of an influenza infection.

Around 6,000 in the low years, and up to nearly 20,000 in the high years, ”notes public health researcher Mickaël Ehrminger.

Why is an influenza epidemic particularly feared this year?

Last year, due to confinements, the curfew, the closure of closed places (restaurants, bars, etc. were never open during the winter), barrier gestures and the generalization of the wearing of the same mask. outside, the flu epidemic was almost non-existent. The classic pattern - a weak year, a strong year - suggests a high excess mortality for this winter. However, this pattern is more of a trend than an absolute certainty: "Nothing is certain with the flu, it can always surprise us, especially since the current situation does not allow the usual trends to be generalized. We can also consider that a year and a half of pandemic will have made the population aware of the importance of barrier gestures, ”adds the researcher.

The flu is worrying this year for the same reasons as last year. First, the hospital is already crowded with the coronavirus, to which is added this year the start of a very violent epidemic of bronchiolitis. Admittedly, with the vaccination, the number of Covid patients will probably have nothing to do with that of last year, but we are still talking about 6,453 people hospitalized and 1,009 in critical care due to the coronavirus alone, so that we are not even in November and that the epidemic is starting to rise again. Second, the healthcare system is weakened and the majority of caregivers are exhausted after a year and a half of a new and particularly violent illness, raising fears of limited capacities to withstand a new hospital shock.

The flu vaccination campaign, the opportunity to give booster doses against the coronavirus?

Because the coronavirus is never far away, even when we talk about another disease, the campaign against the flu is also seen as an opportunity to take booster doses.

You will not have missed it, the population weakened against the flu is more or less the same as that against the Covid-19.

Since September 1, the official start of the recall campaign in France, more than 2.2 million people have received at least one new dose.

Just under 40% of eligible people received their third dose.

"It is moving forward, but not fast enough", underlined the Ministry of Health Olivier Véran on Wednesday.

The flu vaccination campaign has long been seen as an opportunity to speed up booster doses.

Eligible people (caregivers and people over 65) could receive both injections at the same time, as long as they are not in the same arm.

A project validated by all the country's health authorities.

Does the flu shot work well?

For all the reasons mentioned above, the vaccination campaign must be a success. In 2020, with the fear of a wave of influenza coming together with a wave of coronavirus, the vaccination had been a success. But in general, “it struggles to fall into place. Less than half of the population at risk resort to vaccination: half of those over 65 and less than a third of those under 65 at risk, ”deplores Mickaël Ehrminger. For the researcher, the flu is trivialized in the minds by its recurrence in particular and no longer appears as a dangerous disease. This year is adorned with new doubts. The researcher wonders: "Will the population accept another vaccine,all the more so in the face of a virus that we consider less serious than the one that has impacted us for nearly two years? The flu campaign has as many issues as it does uncertainties.

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