Industry calls for wider seasonal flu vaccination programme
Increasing seasonal influenza vaccination rates across Europe would reduce the number of deaths and illness from flu and contribute to pandemic flu preparedness across Europe by increasing vaccine production and distribution capacity, according to research published this month (Vaccine 2006;24:6812).
Researchers from Solvay Pharmaceuticals developed a model to establish
the number of people who may be eligible for flu vaccination in the EU
and estimate the costs and consequences of not vaccinating this population
for five countries — the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
The researchers estimated that a target population of up to 49.1 per
cent across 25 EU member states should be vaccinated against flu. However,
they calculated that, based on current supply constraints, only 35.4
per cent of the target population are being vaccinated. Implementing
a 100 per cent vaccination rate programme for all at-risk groups would,
they say, lead to an estimated reduction in flu cases of 7.22 million,
1.96 million fewer primary care physician visits, 796,743 fewer hospital
admissions, and 68,537 fewer flu-related deaths. Implementing this programme
in the above five countries would cost an additional €1.52bn but would
result in estimated savings of €39.45m in reduced primary care visits
and €1.59bn in reduced admissions to hospital, they say.
The researchers’ calculations were based on the following definition
of at-risk groups: those under five years old and over 50 years old;
those with medical risk factors including respiratory disease, cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and transplantations; and health care workers
or care givers. In the UK, only health care workers, those over 65 years
and those with medical risk factors are targeted for seasonal flu vaccination. |
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