While the vaccination campaign against seasonal influenza began last week, the latest epidemiological bulletin from Public Health France shows that influenza remains a disease often underestimated by young seniors and pregnant women, but also by healthcare professionals. health.
Tuesday, October 15 officially began flu vaccination campaign. From now on, it is possible to be vaccinated not only in a doctor’s or nurse’s office, but also, following the successful experiment carried out last fall in several regions, in pharmacies.
It is, moreover, a paradox: while access to vaccination against seasonal influenza has never been so easy, the disease and its consequences are still underestimated, in particular by populations at riskstarting with young seniors and pregnant women.
Young seniors and pregnant women on the front line
This is revealed the weekly epidemiological bulletin (BEH) of October 21 of Public Health France. While they are the most vulnerable in the event of an epidemic, seniors under the age of 70 see seasonal flu as a “commonplace” disease. Only those who have already caught it in the past would be inclined to vaccinate.
As for pregnant women, they are a majority to ignore the symptoms of the flu, but also the consequences that the disease can have on the health of their child. They also believe that the vaccine could pose a danger to their baby. According to Public Health France, only 7.4% of pregnant women said they had been vaccinated against seasonal flu in 2016, a rate much lower than that of other risk groups.
Health professionals, not vaccinated enough
Another subject of concern raised by Public Health France: the low vaccination coverage among health professionals. Last year, only 32% of care staff in nursing homes were vaccinated. At the hospital, 68% of doctors, 36% of nurses and 21% of nursing assistants received the vaccine.
Insufficient, according to Public Health France and Health Insurance, who hope to convince caregivers in direct contact with the most fragile patients to go through the vaccination box to avoid spreading the flu virus. For this, practical sheets are from this year made available to doctors. In addition, an experiment will begin this winter, and for three years, in Normandy and Île-de-France to encourage health professionals who practice there to be vaccinated.
8,100 deaths attributed to influenza in 2018-2019
Raising the awareness of health professionals to vaccination is all the more necessary since the 2018-2019 flu epidemic was short but particularly severe.
Public Health France recalls that it “started at the beginning of January in metropolitan France, reached its peak during the first week of February and ended at the end of February, i.e. 8 weeks of epidemic”.
During these 8 weeks, more than 10,700 hospitalizations after recourse to the emergency room for flu syndrome or were identified, and more than 1,800 serious cases admitted to intensive care. In total, about 8,100 deaths were attributed to the flu epidemic last year.
“Its significant impact on hospitalizations and mortality is a reminder of the seriousness of the disease and the importance of prevention, insists Public Health France. Namely vaccination in people at risk, supplemented by barrier measures in order to limit the spread of the virus in the entourage of cases, as well as the usefulness of early antiviral treatment, particularly in subjects at risk.
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