Tiodorovic: Anti-flu vaccination needed more than ever, it should start on October 1

"A perfect storm," or a concurrence of the flu and coronavirus, is one of the most undesirable scenarios that could happen to us at the beginning of winter, when seasonal flu starts. To avoid this possibility, it is important to carry out vaccination against seasonal flu, which will reduce the impact of one virus on the other, doctors explain.

Epidemiologist Professor Doctor Branislav Tiodorovic, a member of the Crisis HQ, told the daily Blic that vaccination against influenza is needed more than ever this year in order to avoid seasonal flu getting through in the coronavirus epidemic.

"It's very important to start vaccination against seasonal flu in time. My proposal is to start as early as October 1 and to cover all risk groups, this primarily refers to people older than 60, chronic patients of all ages. For years, I've been advocating in favor of pregnant women getting vaccinated against flu, because unfortunately we also had tragedies with the flu pandemic, there have been cases of pregnant women also dying from the flu. Vaccination of pregnant women is performed in agreement with the gynecologist who monitors the condition, and in agreement with them, they could also get vaccinated. Pregnant women are at risk in themselves because they have weakened immunity, so they should not get sick from either virus," explains Professor Tiodorovic.

Mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers

Vaccination against seasonal flu will be carried out according to the regulations, meaning that it is recommended for people older than 60, chronic patients, while vaccination is mandatory for healthcare workers, except in individual cases when there is justified reason why a person cannot receive the vaccine.

"It's important not to allow a concurrence, to avoid and mitigate side effects as much as possible. tThe vaccine against seasonal flu, although not a vaccine against coronavirus, is very important at this time because it will avoid an overlap, interaction, and we had a chance to see what that looks like in the example of Italy, where the flu epidemic got through the coronavirus epidemic," explains the epidemiologist.

With coronavirus, we have the opportunity to feel on our own skin what it is like when a vaccine is not available to us. At the moment, there is a race in the world who will be the first to register and release the final best vaccine against coronavirus, but until it appears and is available to us, we will turn to preventing that which we can influence.

"I don't even want to think what it would be like for a body to fight coronavirus and the flu at the same time. Especially if it is a person who is in poorer health. Experience teaches us that in seasonal flu epidemics, it happened that young people, pregnant women also died from it... the flu can be dangerous for a weaker organism, and we know who belongs to risk groups. Older people, chronic patient have already gotten used to it and they call us themselves starting October 1 to ask if a vaccine has arrived. Let's be clear, the vaccine does not protect 100 percent, but it helps to a large extent, and its effect depends on the organism itself. If a healthy person who has well-preserved immunity is vaccinated, then we have high protection against the flu, if we have a person with a chronic disease, the elderly, it will help them not end up in the hospital from the flu, and mortality will be reduced. Nobody talks about that, and it's very important to point out how important it is not to have people affected by the flu in the time of coronavus," explains Professor Tiodorovic.

Parents should talk to a pediatrician

The fight against the flu has been going on for decades, but fortunately we have a vaccine available against it, so it is easy to prevent it. The pressure created by coronavirus on vaccination may force those people who have not been vaccinated against the flu so far to receive it, and these are people who are generally in good health, but also children.

"When it comes to children, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we must not forget the youngest population that has chronic diseases. There are children with rare diseases, we also have those with chronic ones, a one or two year-old child can have asthma, as well as all other diseases that lead to reduced immunity. Every pediatrician knows the patient, so parents should talk to a pediatrician who will assess whether it is necessary to vaccinate the child against seasonal flu. Now in the age of coronavirus, what we can say is that this vaccine should be given to people who are exposed to mass communication, be it employees in the post office, banks, stores, media, anywhere where a large number of people gather, it is recommended to everyone. Those people who have any dilemma should consult their chosen doctor," explains the epidemiologist.

As Professor Tiodorovic said, in this way we will certainly facilitate the fight against a possible flu epidemic, but also reduce the risks for those who are infected with coronavirus, because in this way a concurrence will be avoided.

"This is simply an approach that should be applied. The population now views vaccination differently, which is good. Vaccination was well implemented last year, we used up all the vaccines, so we needed more, and the reason is, of course, because people realized that vaccination helps. At a time when we are fighting coronavirus, vaccination against seasonal flu will be of great help to us," explains Dr. Tiodorovic.

Why vaccination is mandatory for medical workers

The new rules for the fight against infectious diseases stipulate that medical workers must be vaccinated in order to protect themselves and patients. For all others, vaccination is recommended, while it' mandatory for those working in the healthcare system.

"Influenza vaccination is mandatory for all health workers because not only the healthcare system but also patients need to be protected so that doctors don't become a source of infection. In those countries where it is successfully implemented, such as Sweden, Norway, the US, France, Canada, there is about 60 percent coverage of healthcare workers, Americans say as high as 95 percent. Of course, there are those among healthcare workers who are not allowed to receive vaccines, these are exceptions and that's justified," says Professor Tiodorovic.

(Telegraf.rs)