Few health staff take flu jab

Just one hospital nurse in eight is getting the winter flu vaccine despite repeated campaigns by the HSE to encourage greater uptake among health workers.

The proportion of all health workers getting vaccinated is declining in both hospitals and long-term care facilities, according to a survey by the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

Overall, 17.4 per cent of healthcare workers in hospitals received the jab last winter, down slightly from 18 per cent the previous winter. The survey reveals wide variations between staff groups and regionally. Dublin North-East fared best with a 27.8 per cent uptake, compared to HSE West where only 10.7 per cent of staff got vaccinated. Health and social care professionals had a 25.1 per cent uptake, compared to 12.2 per cent among nurses.

In long-term facilities such as nursing homes, just 15 per cent of staff were vaccinated, down from 18 per cent the previous year. Dublin North-East had the highest rate and West was lowest, at under 10 per cent. Here, medical and dental staff had the lowest uptake, at 11.3 per cent. There was a sharp fall in the proportion of residents who were vaccinated, from 88 per cent to 73 per cent.

The survey expresses concern at the absence of vaccination policies in long-term facilities, despite national recommendations. It suggests improving access to vaccination clinics, incentives and providing timely reminders as ways of raising the rate of uptake.

A high uptake of the flu vaccine among healthcare workers is recognised as an important way of controlling infection and reducing the risk of transmission between staff and patients. Recent influenza outbreaks have tended to occur in setting with a low uptake among staff.

Beaumont Hospital in Dublin has the highest uptake of staff, at 39 per cent, while at the hospital with the worst record, Lourdes Orthopaedic Hospital in Kilcreene, Kilkenny, just 3 per cent got the flu vaccine. None of the medical staff at this hospital got vaccinated.

Last winter, over 450 people were hospitalised as a result of flu and 32 people died. Flu activity continued over three months and 72 outbreaks were recorded in residential care facilities for the elderly.

The HPSC, which regards these figures as a minimum, estimates that between 200 and 500 flu-related deaths occur during most seasons.

Research has pointed to a number of reason why healthcare workers are reluctant to get vaccinated, including fears about side effects, doubts about the efficacy of the vaccine and a belief that they are healthy and don’t need it.