NIJZ orders more doses of flu vaccine than last year

Ljubljana – The National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) has ordered 360,000 doses of flu vaccine for this season, which is more than last year, when demand exceeded expectation. It is not clear yet whether the vaccine will be available for free this year as well. Flu vaccination usually starts in October.

Last year, 270,000 doses were ordered, but the vaccine ran out within weeks due to the high demand.

Health authorities called for more widespread influenza vaccination because of potential additional complications linked to the Covid-19 virus.

Initially, it was decided that compulsory health insurance would cover flu vaccination (like the year before) for chronic patients over 65, pregnant women, people who are severely overweight and children between 6 and 23 months.

But then it was decided to make the 2020/2021 flu vaccination free of charge for all insured persons. It is not yet clear whether the same provision will be reintroduced this winter season as well, as talks are still under way, the Health Ministry told the STA.

The current flu vaccination provision is valid until the end of this year.

Last year’s flu season was very different compared to previous years. In the end, not a single case of influenza was confirmed in Slovenia, and cases in other countries were also extremely low.

This is because educational institutions were closed for a considerable period of time, people socialised less because of the Covid-19 epidemic, while other measures against the coronavirus also contributed against the transmission of all respiratory viruses, including influenza.

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