Flu vaccinations prevent double wave

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.

Influenza protection is doubly important for people at risk this year: If the flu wave is too high, the intensive care beds are in danger of becoming scarce. Because they could fill up with corona patients.

Last year the flu season was almost completely canceled. Instead of 17 percent as in the previous winter, only 0.2 percent of the population contracted the influenza virus in 2020/21. The reason is obvious: Influenza viruses are transmitted in the same way as Sars-CoV-2 - masks, keeping your distance and the like protect against them accordingly.

More freedom, more flu infections

In the coming winter season (2021/22) it will look different again: With the increasing contact, influenza viruses also have better chances of spreading. How strong the flu epidemic will be cannot be foreseen - it varies from year to year.

The flu is much less dangerous than Covid-19. But people also get seriously ill from influenza or even die from it. In the particularly difficult 2017/18 season, for example, there were more than 25,000 flu deaths in Germany.

Flu patients can also end up in the intensive care unit

Doctors are particularly concerned that in addition to the seriously ill corona patients, whose number will rise in autumn, people who are seriously ill with flu could also fill the hospitals.

In a joint federal press conference, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU), RKI President Lothar Wieler and the head of the Standing Vaccination Commission Thomas Mertens called on people at risk and people with many contacts to be vaccinated against the flu. Around 25 million vaccine doses are available for this.

Who should be vaccinated against the flu

The same groups of people are considered to be particularly at risk with regard to flu and Covid-19:

People over 60 years
People with chronic illness
Pregnant women
People at increased risk of infection (e.g. medical staff)

In addition, people with many contacts should get vaccinated - even if their personal risk of severe flu courses is not great. With a vaccination, each and every one of them can prevent themselves from passing the virus on to many other people. This is particularly important for people who have a lot of contact with the risk groups mentioned above, such as caregivers.

Two syringes at a doctor's visit

The flu vaccination can be given at the same time as a corona booster or primary vaccination. To do this, the doctors put a syringe in the left and one in the right arm. Only live vaccines are excluded from this rule.

Initially, an interval of 14 days between flu and corona vaccination was recommended. This was not based on safety concerns, but because this was the only way to differentiate possible side effects of the corona vaccination from those of the flu vaccination. Since the side effect profile of the vaccinations is now sufficiently recorded, such a time interval is no longer necessary.

Special vaccine for the elderly

Various vaccines are available for the flu vaccination. Since classic vaccines were often less effective in older people, a high-dose vaccine was developed for all people aged 60 and over.

Tags: skin care healthy feet pregnancy