2021 versus 2020
Approximately 6 million people are called by their GP every autumn. The turnout for vaccination has consistently been about 50 percent in recent years. Yet last year, in the middle of corona time, there was a threat of a shortage of flu shots because more people suddenly became interested.
That is why 700,000 extra vaccines were purchased at the time, bringing the total for last year to 4 million. Healthy people aged 60 to 69 were also asked not to immediately make an appointment for vaccination and to give priority to the vulnerable. In the end, anyone who wanted to could get the flu shot. There were even vaccines left over, a spokesperson said.
To prevent impending shortages this year, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has decided that vaccines should be available for 75 percent of the target group. The institute also looked at the results of a poll into likely interest in this year’s flu shot.
Fear of flu wave
Many hospitals fear the flu this winter when a boomerang comes back, because many people’s immunity has gone down. “Would the distance we now take from each other inhibit influenza? Or would the fact that we have been distanced from each other for over a year and a half, ensure that our immune system has become weaker and influenza has a greater chance? That is what Yvonne van der Weele, spokesperson for the Admiral de Ruyter Hospital in Goes, wonders.
Corona patients are already being added to the normal occupation in many hospitals. Hospitals state that regular care and catch-up care are still under pressure from people with Covid-19. A large group of flu patients would further increase the pressure on the number of available beds.
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Hospitals fear flu will come back like a boomerang this winter
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