Should people get a flu shot during COVID-19?

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In Hungary, many people are requesting the free-of-charge flu vaccine, but only healthy people can get it. However, it is not possible to test all applicants.

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coronavirus in Hungary

Getting a flu vaccine is an essential part of protecting your health and your family’s health this season. However, the current coronavirus pandemic has turned the world upside down and placed significant stress on healthcare workers and hospitals. It is crucial to prevent illness during the pandemic, and that includes getting the flu shot.

General practitioners emphasise that only healthy people should get the immunisation, but so far, there is no solution for effectively screening patients for COVID-19.

The problem is getting more urgent since this year, the Hungarian government made the flu vaccine free of charge, which resulted in a growing interest, Népszava wrote. It is also crucial to prevent people who are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 from visiting their GP in large numbers. According to the Chief Medical Officer, the applicants should call their doctors to make an appointment to reduce the risks of the vaccination process.

István Cserni vice president of the Online Organization of General Practitioners noted that since it seems unlikely that GPs would request two negative PCR tests from all vaccination applicants, they cannot identify whether a patient is healthy or an asymptomatic coronavirus carrier.

So far, no significant medical research has been conducted on the potential effects of being infected with SARS-CoV2 and an influenza virus at the same time.

Gábor Kemenesi virologist argued that people with upper respiratory tract complaints should not be vaccinated because their immune system is already “busy” tackling with pathogens, so the vaccine will not be able to trigger an adequate immune response. However, there is a bigger problem. The selection of the active ingredients of the flu vaccine always depends on which virus was dominant in the southern hemisphere. This year, the Southern Hemisphere basically skipped flu season due to the public health measures put in place to fight COVID-19. “If we are lucky, the currently dominant virus strain is already among the components of the vaccine we have prepared,” said the virologist.

With the expected increase in the number of requests for a flu vaccine, GPs request an immunisation fee from the state. If both professional organisations and the government emphasise the importance of flu vaccination, then the state has to provide more compensation, argued István Cserni. Currently, compensation depends on the district’s immunisation rate.