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The seasonal flu vaccine is available starting in October. This year, prophylaxis becomes even more important due to the pandemic COVID-19. Influenza is a serious public health problem, a source of alti costs for the management of cases and their complications. In Europe it occurs with annual epidemics during the winter season, while in the summer months its incidence is negligible. Flu syndromes affect every year between 4% and the fifteen% of the population in Italy.
What is the flu and why do we get vaccinated every year?
Influence is a respiratory disease. It can take many forms and degrees of severity and, in some cases, can lead to hospitalization and death. The most serious complications are viral pneumonia, secondary bacterial pneumonia, and worsening of general medical conditions. THE typical symptoms they are high fever, cough, and muscle aches. However, it is not uncommon to experience headaches, chills, loss of appetite, fatigue, and a sore throat. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are also common in children.
There are two main types of influenza viruses: A and B. A’s are considered to be the cause of human disease that has spread over the past decades. B viruses, which were antigenically distinct in two lineages in the 1980s, contribute variably to seasonal epidemics. The constant mutation of these viruses requires a new type of vaccine every year.
How the flu spreads and how long the incubation lasts
The flu is transmitted by drops It is spread by coughing and sneezing and by direct or indirect contact with contaminated respiratory secretions. his incubation it is usually 2 days, but can vary from 1 to 4 days. The adults contagious others from 1 day before the onset of symptoms to approximately 5 days after, while children and immunosuppressed people can be more contagious. Most people who get the flu cure in a week or 10 days.
Free Flu Vaccine for People at Risk
The flu vaccine is recommended for all people from 6 months of age who do not have contraindications. In less than 6 months it is not immunogenic, that is, it does not create sufficient protection, so it is not recommended or authorized for newborns. Flu Vaccine Recommended and Free some categories, subject to higher complications.
- Pregnant or postpartum women during the beginning of the epidemic season.
- Subjects from 6 months to 65 years who suffer from chronic diseases that affect the respiratory system, cardiocirculatory, intestinal or neuromuscular system, diabetes and severe obesity, chronic renal or adrenal insufficiency, diseases of hematopoietic organs, tumors, immunosuppression. induced by drugs or diseases such as HIV, hepatitis.
- People 65 and older, but some regions extend the recommendation to anyone who is already 60 years old.
- Children and adolescents under long-term treatment with acetylsalicylic acid or aspirin and, therefore, at risk of contracting Reye’s syndrome in case of influenza
- Patients of any age admitted to long-term care facilities.
- Family members and close contacts of high-risk people, even if they have been vaccinated.
- Doctors and health personnel.
- Belonging to the police.
- Veterinarians, breeders, slaughterhouses, transporters of live animals and all categories that work in contact with livestock.
- Blood donors.
Those who do not fall into these categories can purchase the vaccine at the pharmacy for approximately € 25 and get vaccinated by your GP.
The false myths of the vaccine and the real contraindications
The vaccine is contraindicated and in no case should it be administered to infants under 6 months of age, subjects with a severe allergic reaction to the previous dose of a component of the vaccine, who have contracted a moderate or severe acute illness. In the latter case, prophylaxis can be performed once healing has occurred.
Let’s debunk some myths. The vaccine can be administered and is not absolutely contraindicated, despite common opinion, to those with an egg allergy with non-anaphylactic manifestations, those with mild acute illnesses, pregnant and lactating women, HIV-positive and immunosuppressed women. .
It also does not interfere with the immune response to others vaccinations inactivated or live attenuated. Therefore, the flu vaccine can be administered simultaneously with other vaccines, at different places in the body, and with different syringes.
Flu: how many doses are needed and where the injection is given
It’s enough single dose the flu vaccine for people of all ages, except for children under 9 years of age who have not been previously vaccinated. Two doses of seasonal influenza vaccine are recommended, to be administered at least 4 weeks apart.
The flu vaccine is administered intramuscularly and inoculated into the deltoid muscle, that is, the shoulder, in subjects older than 2 years. In children up to 2 years of age, the anterolateral fascia of the leg.
What are the side effects of the flu vaccine?
Flu vaccines do not contain virus live, but only inactivated viruses or part of their DNA. the effects not wanted the most common are local reactions such as pain, erythema and swelling in the part of the body where the puncture was made. One can find systemic reaction such as general malaise, fever, muscle aches that can appear 6 to 12 hours later and last up to 2 days.
Events adverse rare reported in conjunction with vaccination are thrombocytopenia, neuralgia, paraesthesia, neurological disorders, and severe allergic reactions. However, the causal relationship between the administration of the influenza vaccine and these manifestations has not been demonstrated.
Influenza Vaccination Campaign: Coverage
By reduce For the spread of the influenza virus and the prevention of its complications and mortality, it is necessary to achieve high coverage in the target population groups for vaccination, particularly for high-risk subjects. The minimum objective of the Ministry of Health vaccination campaign is coverage of the 75%, while the optimal objective would be coverage of the 95%.
When the vaccination campaign begins in each region
The flu vaccine campaign has different dates in each Italian region.
- Abruzzo – October 1st
- Basilicata – October 15th
- Calabria – October 1st
- Campania – October 1st
- Emilia romagna – October 12
- Friuli Venezia Giulia -October 1st
- Lazio – October 1st
- Liguria – October 5th
- Lombardy – October 19
- Market – October 15th
- Molise – October 15th
- Piedmont – October 26th
- Apulia – October 1 for those at risk, November 1 for the rest of the population
- Sardinia – October 1st
- Sicily – October 5th
- Tuscany – October 5th
- Trentino Alto Adige – October 12
- Umbria – October 1st
- Aosta Valley – October 12
- Veneto – October 12
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