LThe flu comes back, like every year,” begins Aurore Girard, general practitioner and vice-president of the Scientific Society of General Medicine. The eternal return, therefore. But not in the same way, since the influenza virus, responsible for the flu, is classified into several strains, themselves subdivided into subtypes. Experts use the circulation of the flu virus in the southern hemisphere (which begins winter before us) to predict the strains expected in Europe.
“The two strains that circulated in Australia belong to subtype A and are covered by the vaccine,” emphasizes Dr. Girard. Vulnerable people are encouraged to get vaccinated from mid-October to avoid serious illness, hospitalizations and the risk of death. More than 90% of flu-related deaths concern people over 65. People living with underlying chronic pathologies (cardiac, renal, pulmonary or even endocrine such as diabetes) are also at risk of complications.
In 2023, the flu season in Belgium lasted eleven weeks, with hospitalizations peaking at the end of January 2024. Around 550,000 Belgians, or 5% of the population, contracted the flu, and among them, 1 in 1,000 people got the flu. developed serious complications requiring hospitalization.
Authorizing pharmacists to administer the vaccine has boosted the vaccination rate: last year, 20% of vaccines were administered in pharmacies. However, with barely half of people at risk vaccinated in Belgium (50.7% of seniors and 43.4% of chronically ill people), the vaccination rate remains well below WHO recommendations (75% coverage). vaccination).
