Influenza vaccination

Influenza (“the flu”) is caused by the influenza virus (actually a group of viruses), which infects the respiratory tract, that is, the nose, throat and lungs. Unlike many other viral respiratory infections, such as the common cold, the flu may also cause severe illness and life-threatening complications.

Flu is characterised by fever, headache, extreme tiredness, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose and muscle aches. Children may also have additional gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. The symptoms usually are the worst for the first three or four days and it can take one to two weeks to get completely better. The incubation period of flu is one to four days.

Most people get better without problems and with the help of simple medications that help control symptoms. Such medications include paracetamol and other analgesics (painkillers), decongestants and cough syrups. But sometimes the flu can lead to a bacterial infection, such as an ear infection, a sinus infection, or bronchitis. In rare cases, the flu may cause a more serious problem, such as pneumonia.

Certain people are at higher risk of problems from the flu. They include young children, pregnant women, older adults, and people with long-term illnesses or with impaired immune systems that hinder the fight against infections.

Each flu season is unique, but it is estimated that on average, approximately five per cent to 20 per cent of the US population contracts flu, and more than 200,000 persons are hospitalised for flu-related complications each year. About 36,000 Americans die on average per year from complications of influenza. In Malta, details are scantier but surveillance by the public health division showed that last year during December and then again from mid-February to the end of March, approximately 40 out of every 1,000 persons consulting the general practitioner did so for an influenza-like illness.

Influenza may be prevented by an inexpensive vaccine. Such vaccination does not prevent the other colds and coughs that commonly go round during the winter season. It is therefore ridiculous for individuals to claim that vaccination actually made them more sick. There just happened to be more cold viruses around – on which the vaccine does not work.

While there is no argument with regard to vaccinating the elderly, those with chronic disease and those at risk (such as health care workers, child carers and teachers), many authorities recommend that all of us should be vaccinated, including children. It is estimated that, on average, 20 to 43 per cent of children are infected during typical influenza seasons.

Another reason to consider universal childhood vaccination is herd protection, that is, protection of the rest of the community. Childhood recommendations include vaccination of all children over the age of six months. For children under the age of nine who have never been vaccinated, two doses should be given, one month apart. Otherwise one dose suffices. The vaccine should be given as it becomes available, usually around this time.

Because influenza viruses change every year, the vaccine is updated annually so the vaccine should be taken every year.