Defending flu vaccine coverage rates to help protect the most vulnerable

In our third winter since the COVID-19 pandemic, the respiratory disease season has hit with several respiratory viruses circulating simultaneously.  We know that it’s possible to have flu and COVID-19 at once and that having both – or having one infection right after another – weakens the patient significantly and can lead to severe, sometimes life-threatening disease. 

We can help prevent flu-related hospitalizations and deaths thanks to vaccines. But too many older adults are just not getting their flu vaccine this season. Rates of flu vaccinations have tumbled more than 5% points in the US since a peak level of 75% coverage among older adults in 2020.¹ We see similar trends in major European markets as well, including France, Germany, and Italy, where rates of vaccination have also declined over the last year, and in some cases, not even reaching 50% of the populations.² While it was observed in scientific studies that  both COVID-19 and flu vaccines could be administered  together without any safety concerns, little proactive public information has been out to older adults to reassure them on this point.^{3, 4} The need for older adults to get both the flu and COVID-19 vaccines has perhaps also contributed to creating general fatigue about getting yet another shot.

This is a worrisome trend for the public health community.  We cannot control influenza epidemics, but we can mitigate their impact with high levels of vaccination coverage across the population, particularly amongst older adults, as this helps prevent flu-related complications like pneumonia⁵, heart attacks and strokes.^{6, 7, 8, 9}