Flu: vaccination saves lives

Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for

More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.

The flu (influenza) is still one of the most dangerous infectious diseases. Every year several million people in Germany fall ill - depending on the severity of the flu epidemic.

The 2017/18 flu season was particularly difficult, with nine million people seeing a doctor for flu symptoms. Doctors detected the virus 334,000 times in the laboratory, and 45,000 people had to be hospitalized. And 25,100 people died of influenza or its complications. "That is the highest number of deaths in the past 30 years," says Prof. Lothar Wieler, President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). For comparison: The diarrheal disease EHEC, which was rampant in 2011, claimed 53 lives.

Vaccine builds immune defenses

The flu vaccination can provide effective protection against influenza. "There is no other vaccination in Germany that can save more lives," says Wieler.

The vaccine consists of killed virus components of various influenza subtypes. It is developed anew every year because the viruses change quickly. The pathogens that circulated in the previous year serve as the basis. The World Health Organization determines the exact composition of the vaccine.

Vaccination for the approaching flu season protects against four virus subtypes that are expected to be the most prevalent (this year, subtypes H1N1, H3N2, B-Colorado, and B-Phuket).

High time for the vaccination

The flu season in Germany usually starts in the 40th calendar week (beginning of October) and ends in the 20th calendar week (mid-May). The best time to get the flu shot is October through November. It takes ten to 14 days for the immune system to react to the vaccine and for complete protection to be built up. But vaccination can still be useful at the turn of the year. It cannot always prevent the flu, but it can lessen its course.

Who is the flu shot for?

The RKI and the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) recommend annual vaccination for the following groups of people:

People with a weakened immune system:

• People over 60 years of age
• People with chronic diseases (e.g. heart or respiratory diseases, diabetes)
• People with immune system disorders or people who need to take immune-weakening drugs

People who come into contact with influenza viruses or those with influenza:

• Residents of old people's or care facilities
• People who live in the same household with high-risk patients
• medical staff
• People in facilities with a lot of public traffic (e.g. government offices)

People at other risk:

• People with direct contact with poultry and wild birds
• Pregnant women

Reduce risk

The effectiveness of the flu shot varies from season to season. Although the composition of the vaccine is adjusted annually, it may not work against all viruses that actually appear. The flu viruses can also change during the course of the flu season, which can make the vaccination less effective.

When the vaccine and the flu virus go well together, vaccination is about 80 percent effective in young adults. In other words, if ten out of 100 people get the flu during a vaccination season, only about two out of 100 people are vaccinated.

Older people often have weaker immune systems that do not respond as well to the vaccine. The protective effect is therefore less reliable with them. Nevertheless, older people can cut their risk of the disease by about half through vaccination.

How to recognize the flu

The flu usually spreads via a droplet infection. When coughing, sneezing or speaking, infected people spread the virus in their surroundings and other people breathe them in. The pathogens also reach objects such as doorknobs or computer keyboards via the hands and can ultimately also reach the mucous membranes of healthy people by means of smear infection.

Around one to four days after the infection, a typical flu course suddenly sets in with a high fever of over 38.5 degrees Celsius with chills. In addition, there are bone, sore throat and headache, dry cough and sometimes gastrointestinal complaints. If you have symptoms like this, you should definitely consult a doctor.

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