Health authorities evaluating possibility of making seasonal influenza vaccine mandatory

The health authorities are evaluating the option of making the seasonal influenza vaccine mandatory for certain groups as concerns rise over the dual impact with COVID-19 in the winter season.

Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci said preparations are underway to develop a strategy to mitigate the impact of seasonal influenza come October.

Public health specialists have sounded the alarm over a potential dual impact on medical services as a result of COVID-19’s resurgence at the same time as the seasonal influenza.

Asked by MaltaToday whether the authorities were considering making the influenza vaccine mandatory for children returning to school after the summer, Gauci said this was one of the options being considered.

“We normally offer the seasonal influenza vaccine for free, initially to the elderly, people with chronic conditions and children under five. We are evaluating the benefits and added value of making the seasonal influenza vaccine mandatory for certain groups,” she said on Wednesday in reply to MaltaToday.

She added that the preventive strategies people have learnt as a result of the coronavirus pandemic would also be important to contain the spread of seasonal influenza.

“The things we learnt from COVID, such as regular washing of hands, social distancing, staying at home if sick, how to sneeze, the use of masks in shops, are all protocols that will help us to minimise the risk of transmission for both COVID-19 and the seasonal influenza, and so will also be emphasised come October,” she added.

Gauci said there was ongoing international analysis to determine whether COVID-19 was a seasonal virus.

“If it is seasonal, we can expect the number of cases to reduce in summer but a resurgence is possible afterwards and this will coincide with the seasonal influenza,” she said.

Last January, Gauci said that out of the 100,000 doses of influenza vaccine procured by the State, 90,000 had been administered.

Health Minister Chris Fearne had said the exercise to distribute free influenza vaccines at health centres and local councils across Malta came at a cost of €4 million.

Schools in Malta were closed last March as the government moved to contain the spread of the coronavirus. They will reopen again in September, depending on the advice given by the health authorities.

However, talks are underway for the reopening of child care centres and summer schools with Gauci saying on Wednesday that mitigation measures are being discussed with education authorities.

She warned that the situation in these centres will not be a return to what it was before the pandemic, adding that fewer children will gather in groups at any one particular time.