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Source: BELGA, agg
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As of today, anyone who wants to be vaccinated against flu can pick up a flu vaccine from the pharmacist without a prescription. The General Pharmaceutical Association (APB) does not expect a shortage of flu shots this year.
For the coming flu season, our country has provided 3.78 million flu vaccines, or 840,000 more than last season. That should be enough to avoid a scenario like last year’s. Then there were shortages and risk groups were given priority. Now anyone can pick up a vaccine. Those who belong to the risk groups are largely reimbursed. This includes people over 65, patients with an underlying chronic condition, people with a BMI over 35, pregnant women and people who work in the health sector.
No more going to the doctor first
By making the vaccine easily accessible to everyone, the APB hopes for a higher vaccination coverage. “In the past, patients first had to go to the doctor to get a prescription, and then pick up the vaccine from the pharmacist,” says Koen Straetmans, chairman of APB. Afterwards, the patient had to go to the GP again to have an injection. Now that first step has been omitted, the patient can immediately go to the pharmacy to pick up the flu vaccine. “That makes it easier for the patient to get vaccinated.”
The actual jab campaign starts on October 15. From then on, awareness-raising campaigns will also be launched. This is necessary because next winter threatens to be a flu winter, according to experts worldwide. Due to the lockdown and all the corona measures, we did not have a flu season last year. As a result, fewer antibodies were produced against the virus. There is a risk that people will be more susceptible to the flu virus in the coming flu season.
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