The HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry is urging parents to have their children vaccinated against influenza with over 3,300 cases recorded in the community within the last week.
The uptake of the vaccine had been disappointing this winter as numbers are set to peak, Dr Henry said.
He also acknowledged that the current severe weather conditions will “disrupt” the flow of patients in hospitals and he encouraged people with flu symptoms to stay home, take paracetamol or ibuprofen, liquids and rest and not go to work. Their first point of contact should be their GP, he said and practices will open for additional hours to respond to patients.
“Well, the number of people who are sick in hospital with flu this morning is 748. So we’re beginning to see a slight drop, which is what we would expect,” he said.
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“However, the number of cases out in the community are still very high levels, over 3,300 for the week up to last Saturday. What we expect to see is those cases peaking sometime around this week. But it doesn’t just stop suddenly, the cases will drop gradually. In any one flu season, we expect 10 to 15 per cent of the population to get flu. And of course, the flu will find its way through to some people who are vulnerable and would become quite sick, and that includes children. Last year, for example, we had over 1,000 children hospitalised with influenza.”
The master of the Rotunda maternity hospital, Prof Sean Daly has also spoken of the disappointing uptake of the flu vaccine this winter.
The disappointing uptake meant that the vaccine “probably” had not been as effective as flu vaccines in the past, he said.
There had been three cases in the Rotunda and Prof Daly said that it was inevitable there would be cases coming into the hospital given the prevalence of the flu virus in society at present.
It could also be because of the current variant of influenza. Prof Daly said he was an advocate for the flu vaccine and that every hospital was seeing an increase in flu cases.
Meanwhile a new RSV immunisation programme for newborn babies at the Rotunda has been a great success, he said with 80 percent uptake.
“As I understand it, the number of RSV cases that have required a high dependency care or intensive care has dropped dramatically. So it has been a huge success.”
The six month programme is due to end in February. “It’s not a vaccination. I think that’s very important to emphasise. It gives the babies protection for 150 days from the point of immunisation.”
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