ARCHIVED - Demand for flu vaccine up by 55 per cent in Spain this year

The pandemic has increased interest in immunization against the annual flu epidemic

It is of course very hard to find positive effects of the coronavirus in Spain, where the pandemic-related death toll has climbed to over 44,000, but one such silver lining, according to the Ministry of Health, is that demand for vaccination against “normal” flu has shot up by 55 per cent since the last inoculation campaign a year ago.

The Ministry reports that 14 million people have so far been vaccinated this autumn, an increase of 5 million (or 55 per cent) over the figure for the 2019 campaign. This represents an encouraging response to an initiative to prevent co-infection of Covid-19 and flu which began as long ago as March, when Spain became the first country to ensure supplies of 5 million “extra” doses of the flu vaccine.

The aim at that point was to vaccinate 75 per cent of healthcare professionals – a sector which welcomed the increase in supplies this year – and of those aged over 65, and 60 per cent of pregnant women and individuals considered to be at risk due to pre-existing medical conditions. Other groups targeted by the Ministry include those employed in essential public services and those who work in poultry and pig farming.

Full details breaking down the overall total of vaccines administered are not yet available, but it is known that following the start of the vaccination campaign in early October a peak in the number of people receiving jabs was reached in the second week of November and in some areas residents are reportedly still finding it difficult to get an appointment for a flu jab, so great is the demand this year.

Flu kills around 4,000 people a year in Spain, a figure which is almost entirely avoidable. The annual reports produced at the end of the flu season always show that a high percentage of those who died from flu, or from illnesses exacerbated following a flu contagion, such as pneumonia, had chosen not to accept the free vaccine offered by the health authorities.

The very first cases of the season have now been reported, although the peak in contagions usually comes after the festive season when families have had plenty of time to mix and the weather has become colder.