Taoiseach calls on public to get flu vaccine amid concern about levels of infection
Olivia Kelleher
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has called on members of the public to obtain their flu vaccination whilst acknowledging that he is “very concerned” about levels of infection in the community.
The President of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine, Conor Deasy on Friday told the Six One News on RTÉ that the peak of the flu virus in Ireland will occur in or around Christmas Day.
Mr Deasy said that healthcare professionals have been doing “Trojan work” following a rise in presentations at hospitals. He noted that “a particularly nasty strain of flu” has been circulating in recent weeks.
Speaking in Cork, the Taoiseach acknowledged the existence of a “particularly virulent flu this season.” Mr Martin described vaccination levels in Ireland as high relative to other EU countries. However, he indicated that “we want them to be higher.”
“We would appeal to people to get vaccinated. That's the most effective sort of weapon at our disposal to deal with this. The hospitals will manage this and will bring in various protocols and will escalate those protocols when appropriate. But undoubtedly, a flu season like this does put pressure (on hospitals).”
Mr Martin confirmed that public health restrictions were not being considered “at this particular point.”
He emphasised that hospitals have protocols and approaches to dealing with events of this kind.
“But it is a particularly stronger, more virulent form of flu than previous ones, and so it's having an impact on people in terms of their own health, so it has necessitated greater hospitalisation and so forth. So people need to be vigilant and look after themselves.”
Meanwhile, flu activity in Ireland is at high levels, with case and hospitalisation numbers both rising rapidly in recent weeks, according to data from the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
The highest number of cases this winter season to date was recorded in those aged 65 years and older and less than 15 years, but flu cases are increasing in all age groups this season.
Flu vaccination significantly reduces hospitalisations by preventing severe illness and lowering the risk of serious complications. To date this season, 73 percent of ICU admissions due to flu had not received the current seasonal influenza vaccine.
The HPSC indicates that in the week between November 30th and December 6th last, there were 2,944 flu cases reported.
This represented an increase of 49 percent compared to 1,971 cases reported the previous week. 1,622 flu Emergency Department (ED) cases were reported – an increase of 55 percent compared to 1,072 the previous week.
