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The Ministry of Health, with the support of the National Institute of Public Health and the public health departments, carries out, during the month of September 2023, information, education and communication activities as part of the National Communicable Disease Information Month Campaign – Influenza and influenza vaccination; SARS-CoV-2 and vaccination against COVID-19.
Influenza, although often considered a common illness, is a highly contagious infectious disease with significant morbidity and mortality responsible for up to 50 million symptomatic cases each year in the European Union/European Economic Area and 15,000-70,000 deaths per year.
Vaccination is the most effective form of influenza prevention. Influenza vaccination coverage in some European countries, including Romania, is below the recommended target of 75% for the elderly, although this public health intervention prevents around 37,000 deaths in the European Union each year. In Romania, since the beginning of the 2022-2023 flu season, 3,900 cases of laboratory-confirmed flu have been reported and 97 deaths have been recorded. However, many cases are diagnosed only clinically, without official laboratory confirmation, which means that the incidence of this condition would be much higher. Until 21.05.2023, 1,486,600 people from at-risk groups were vaccinated against influenza, with vaccine distributed by the Ministry of Health.
The flu vaccine effectively prevents flu, but not common respiratory viruses. Influenza is an infectious disease characterized by very high fever (over 39°C), headache and very intense muscle pain (respiratory symptoms seem little significant compared to the latter). Influenza infection can lead to serious complications (pneumonia, etc.), and is potentially teratogenic (can cause malformations in the fetus). Common respiratory viruses cause respiratory symptoms and headaches, but these do not compare to the severity of the clinical picture of the flu. Applying the appropriate measures during the pandemic helps to avoid contact with respiratory viruses: avoiding crowding during the epidemic, frequent ventilation, covering the nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing, sneezing, yawning, frequent hand washing, wearing a mask if necessary.
The COVID-19 virus appeared at the end of 2019 and spread very quickly causing, globally, until May 17, 2023, 766,440,796 cases and 6,932,591 deaths. On the territory of Romania, in the years 2020 and 2021, 1,813,823 cases and 58,971 deaths were registered (and extremely many sequelae and complications which, in turn, made the lives of patients difficult and also caused a very death toll).
Taking into account the simultaneous circulation of the two viruses, influenza vaccination is even more important because the co-infection of influenza virus and SARS-COV-2 can have a severe evolution, especially in vulnerable population groups (elderly, chronically ill, pregnant women).
The benefits of influenza vaccination are:
• prevention of illness;
• reducing the severity and shortening the duration of the disease: short-term mild forms (1-2 days);
• significant reduction in hospitalizations and their deaths caused by flu and pneumonia;
• reducing the number of consultations and home visits;
• reducing the number of requests to ambulance services;
• reducing the number of medical leaves granted for flu and acute respiratory infections;
• reducing the use of antibiotics in conditions compatible with the flu. If you belong to the population groups at risk mentioned below, contact your family doctor to benefit from the free flu vaccination.
• Persons between the ages of 6 months and 64 years, with chronic pulmonary, cardiovascular, metabolic, renal, hepatic, neurological, diabetes, obesity, asthma or human immunodeficiency virus medical conditions.
• Children aged between 6 months and 35 months
• Pregnant women
• Doctors, mid-level health workers and auxiliary health personnel, both from hospitals and from outpatient health units, including employees of protective institutions (children or the elderly) and chronically ill units, who by the nature of the activity come into respiratory contact with patients or assists
• People, adults and children, residents in social protection institutions, as well as people who provide medical, social assistance and home care to people at high risk
• All persons over 65 years of age
2023-09-29 13:22:27
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