HIGH-risk health groups have already started receiving their annual influenza vaccine, a senior Health Ministry official confirmed yesterday.
The government has imported 45,000 flu vaccines, which have been distributed to all general hospitals around the island, said Panos Mytides, a pharmacist at the Ministry’s Pharmaceutical Services. Although the vaccine was also available for purchase in the private sector, the government did not have the figures for those imports, he added.
“People have been receiving their flu vaccinations for over a week now, as the vaccine arrived on the island well before September 15,” said Mytides.
Each year, the vaccine is updated by international laboratories under the guidance of the World Health Organisation to include the most current strains of the virus. According to senior medical officer Dr Chrystalla Hadjianastasiou, all high-risk groups should have the shot by early November at the latest, so that they have time to develop their antibodies. After that, the flu season begins, leaving them exposed and more vulnerable to contamination, she said.
High-risk groups eligible for a free flu jab include sufferers of asthma or other chronic pulmonary diseases, significant cardiac diseases, immunosuppressive disorders, HIV patients, chronic renal dysfunction patients, sufferers of chronic metabolic diseases including diabetes mellitus, and all people over the age of 65.
“Women in their second or third trimester of pregnancy are also encouraged to have the vaccine as pregnancy increases the risk of complications and hospitalisation from the influenza virus,” Hadjianastasiou told the Cyprus Mail.
Healthy, younger people did not need a vaccine to beat the flu as they had natural antibodies that could easily do that for them. Although influenza was not life threatening, complications from the virus could be, which was why the government preferred to save the vaccine for high-risk groups, who had weaker immune systems and were more susceptible to infection.
“People who come into contact with high risk groups, such as health workers, retirement home employees or even family members, are also advised to have the vaccine to limit infecting the high risk groups,” she said.
The flu vaccine is made up of inactive influenza viruses. Patients rarely develop symptoms from it and if they do they are negligible. After getting the shot, a person’s body will create antibodies within several weeks to fight the virus if exposed to it, Hadjianastasiou explained. It then reduces a person’s chances of contracting the flu by up to 90-95 per cent during the winter season. But even if an immunized person gets the flu, symptoms are usually fewer and milder, she said.
