November 19
This year, the flu shot costs € 11.13 compared to € 6.20 in 2017. The price has doubled but there is a good reason.
The price of the flu vaccine has doubled in 1 year
The flu vaccination campaign started on October 6 and mainly concerns people at risk, i.e. 12 million people in France. These are people over 65, people suffering from chronic diseases (diabetes, heart or respiratory failure), pregnant women and people suffering from morbid obesity.
In addition, in order to limit the spread of the disease, people working with sick people are also advised to get the flu shot : general practitioners, nurses, midwives, pediatricians, full-service pharmacists, physiotherapists, gynecologists and dental surgeons.
This vaccination campaign should approach 63 million euros this year. This is almost double the number of last year since the campaign cost 35 million euros in 2017.
A more expensive but more effective influenza vaccine
Why such a rise in the price of influenza vaccine? A priori, the reason lies on the side of its effectiveness. Indeed, this year, the vaccine contains four strains compared to three previously. Thus, in 2018, it is composed of 2 strains A and 2 strains B whereas in previous years, the vaccines were made from 2 strains A and 1 strain B. However, which says increase in the effectiveness of the vaccine also says increase in its price.
This increase is an opportunity to recall that the flu shot formula changes every years and that the choice of its composition is made several months before the vaccination campaign. This is for scientists to predict what will be the profile of the influenza virus on the basis of previous epidemics.
As a reminder, in 2017 the flu vaccine was 60% effective and the disease killed 13,000 people.
You can also read: Symptoms of the flu
