The Cabinet of Ministers on Tuesday decided to expand the circle of persons who are entitled to receive state-paid vaccination against influenza, the Ministry of Health informed.
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Prisoners and prison staff who come into direct contact with prisoners, members of the National Armed Forces, employees of the Ministry of the Interior with special service ranks and teachers of general education institutions are also expected to receive state-paid influenza vaccination during the influenza season, depending on the amount of vaccines available. .
Such changes this year are aimed at minimizing the risk to the health and lives of the population and the workload of hospitals during a pandemic.
Influenza activity has already been reported to increase across Europe. Therefore, without waiting for the widespread spread of influenza in Latvia as well, now is the right time to perform vaccination. Elderly people and people with chronic diseases are the most affected by the flu – chronic cardiovascular, pulmonary and renal diseases, diabetes, oncology patients, patients with chronic infections and others with weakened immunity. Vaccination against influenza is also important for other groups of people who are at increased risk of infection due to their occupation.
Also, changes have been made in the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers from next year to ensure state-paid vaccination against the human papillomavirus not only for 12-year-old girls, but also for boys. This need has been decided by the National Board of Immunization, given that the human papillomavirus can cause cancer, such as cancer of the head, throat, cervix and intestines.
Amendments to the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers envisage the provision of cough vaccination against pregnant women and adolescents against whooping cough from next year. According to the Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the number of whooping cough cases in Latvia has increased several times in recent years. Whooping cough also affects adults and adolescents, but in infants, this highly infectious acute respiratory infection affects both the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, damaging the lung tissue and causing pulmonary hypertension.
Complications may include pneumonia, convulsions, bradycardia, inguinal hernia, encephalopathy, pulmonary hypertension, apnea, rectal prolapse. The disease can cause an extremely high amount of white blood cells in the blood that can block blood flow.
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