Flu vaccines should be given to the public free of charge to minimise pressure on the health service, a Clare Senator has said.
Receiving the season flu vaccine (flu jab) protects against four strains of the flu virus. These are the strains most likely to be circulating this flu season. The vaccine is available every year to adults and children at risk of flu and its complications.
Currently a wide range of people in the country can already receive the flu vaccine for free. They include those aged 65 and over, children aged between two and seventeen, pregnant women, persons with long-term conditions such as chronic heart disease, chronic liver disease, chronic renal failure, chronic respiratory disease, chronic neurological disease, diabetes, cerebral palsy, down syndrome. Individuals living in a nursing home or long-term care facility can also get the jab for free.
Personnel that don’t fall into the at-risk categories are advised to check the cost of the vaccine with their GP or pharmacist.
In a statement to The Clare Echo, Senator Martin Conway (FG) issued a call for the flu vaccine to be given free of charge to everyone as he sought a scaled-up information campaign on the benefits of the flu vaccine.
Senator Conway referenced the concern expressed by Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan on the high incidence of COVID-19 across the country and the need to increase vaccinations, currently 92 percent of the public have received the jab for COVID-19.
He stated, “Some doctors have said it is difficult to differentiate between respiratory type illnesses such as Covid and flu, as symptoms are similar, with flu cases likely to rise during this current season with more people out and about. That is why I believe it is so essential the flu vaccine be made available to everyone free of charge. We should also be running the same campaign as we have been running for Covid to encourage people to take the flu vaccine and I emphasised this point to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly in the Seanad”.
It is “penny wise and pound foolish” to charge people for the flu vaccine, the Ennistymon man remarked. “The flu vaccine has the potential to protect those most at risk of serious illness and hospitalisations, so it makes perfect sense to provide the flu vaccine free of charge at a time when our hospitals are under pressure as a result of Covid-19 admissions. It seems to me that charging people for the flu vaccine is penny wise and pound foolish, as the benefits of providing the flu vaccine freely far outweigh the cost implication”.
