And 11 other questions about the flu shot
Every year 5-10 percent of people get the flu, but this year a more serious flu wave threatens than in other years, experts fear. Interesting questions arose during a webinar for healthcare providers of the Dutch Influenza Foundation.
1. Why are more people getting the flu this winter?
Physician microbiologist and professor Jan Kluytmans explains – we have had a few severe flu years. The winter of 2017-2018 in particular was a severe flu year, in which the emergency department became overloaded. But last year hardly any people have had the flu. That seems nice, but the disadvantage is that the natural immunity in the population has not been ‘boosted’. Because almost no one got the flu, almost no one has built up extra resistance against the flu virus. That has never happened before, so experts don’t know how the coming year will go. “Most likely more people will get sick this season. The outbreak will also start earlier than in other years’, says Kluytmans.
2. Can you already have the flu?
Are you snotty or feverish now? That is not the flu, because in September or October the flu virus is not yet in the country. The flu wave usually occurs at the end of the year and especially the first months of the new year.
3. Does the flu shot protect against hospitalization?
The flu vaccine is 40 percent effective at preventing the flu. This means that in a group of vaccinated people 40 percent fewer people get the flu than in an equally large group of people who have not been vaccinated. This makes it not as effective as the vaccines against covid, with even more than 90 percent effectiveness. Still, the flu shot is useful, because the flu vaccine ensures that you get less sick if you get the flu. In this way, the vaccine prevents many hospital admissions.
4. Can caregivers get a flu shot?
Caregivers for vulnerable people should also be vaccinated against flu, the Health Council advised a few days ago. In this way they protect their loved ones against the flu. This is just an advisory, so it’s not an official policy yet, but it’s expected to happen.
5. Are there enough vaccines for all caregivers?
There was a threat of a vaccine shortage last year, but enough have been made this year, says Ted van Essen of the Dutch Influenza Foundation and TV doctor at Omroep MAX. Other new target groups for the flu shot are people with morbid obesity (BMI ≥40) people with dementia (younger than 60) people with cochlear implants and pregnant women from 22 weeks of pregnancy.
6. How many people get the flu shot?
All people over 60 receive the invitation for the flu shot, in addition to a number of other risk groups such as heart and lung patients. The figures are presented for the over-65s: 68 percent obtained the vaccine last year. That percentage is slightly lower than that of general practitioners, of whom 72 percent had themselves vaccinated. And higher than that of employees in hospitals, because the vaccination rate there is only 40 percent.
7. Why do so many hospital employees not get vaccinated?
Hospital employees do not always find the flu shot necessary for themselves, for example because they feel healthy and do not expect that they will infect someone. You can question that. But there is also positive news, according to microbiologist Kluytmans. ‘At first it was appreciated if you came to work, while you were coughing and sniffling. But that is very dangerous, because you can infect people with fragile health. Nowadays there is more awareness that it is better to stay at home with complaints.’
8. Do corona measures also work against the flu?
Yes. Washing hands, coughing in the elbow, staying home if you have complaints, keeping your distance – all these measures have not only worked well against covid, but also against contamination from other respiratory infections such as the flu virus. Last winter, normal respiratory infections were much less common.
9. Why isn’t there a better flu vaccine?
The flu vaccine has been made the same way for years. It is a cocktail of several types of inactivated virus grown in chicken eggs. Thanks to the large-scale research into corona vaccines, a lot of new knowledge has been gathered about vaccines. These new types of vaccines are now also being investigated as a possible flu vaccine. We may get an RNA flu vaccine in a few years with the same mechanism as the covid vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna.
10. Does the flu shot make you less contagious?
The figures about the corona vaccine are well researched. The chance that you will infect a roommate is 71 percent lower if you are fully vaccinated, according to the RIVM. Unfortunately, how high that number is for the flu vaccine has not been studied very well, says Jan Kluytmans. ‘But do know that you are most contagious when you have symptoms. You can also infect others with mild cold symptoms due to the flu virus.’
11. Can you get the flu from the flu vaccine?
The flu vaccine can cause side effects in the short term. For example, you get pain in the arm or a low-grade fever. But you don’t get the flu from the vaccine. ‘If you do get sick after the flu vaccine, it is probably because of another virus that you have contracted,’ says Van Essen. In October there is hardly any influenza in circulation, so the chance is nil that you have contracted the flu.
12. What are the long-term side effects of the flu vaccine?
In the short term you may have arm pain and a slight increase, but in the long term there are no side effects from the flu vaccine, says Van Essen. And here the flu vaccine ‘wins’ over the corona vaccine – because there is much more experience with it. ‘This vaccine has been made for 70 years and I have 40 years of experience with it myself,’ says Van Essen.
