Influenza vaccination: in the UK and across Europe.

Abstract

The influenza virus continues to change and adapt, which may result in so called 'antigenic drift'. However, public health researchers’ ability to characterise these changes is much enhanced. Influenza vaccination is the key public health intervention available to reduce the morbidity and mortality of influenza. Traditionally, the influenza vaccine has been trivalent (active against two different strains of influenza A and one strain of influenza B), but recently some influenza vaccines are available that are quadrivalent, containing two variants of influenza B. Practitioners have adopted a range of strategies to improve vaccine uptake, such as identifying eligible patients through their electronic health record and employing call–recall systems. Vaccination has occurred through a range of other settings: children of school age through their schools; adults at risk through pharmacies, and healthcare workers through their workplace. Annual vaccination against influenza is well established in the UK. The traditional vaccination strategy has been to target groups at higher risk of severe disease following infection, such as adults and children with underlying chronic medical conditions; pregnant women; and older people. Although this approach has been shown to be highly cost-effective, a significant burden of disease remains because influenza continues to circulate in the population with a significant proportion of at-risk individuals remaining unprotected due to a lack of vaccination or limited response following vaccination. An alternative approach is universal vaccination offering vaccine to healthy children.1 This strategy protects both the children themselves and, by reducing spread, indirectly protects those at higher risk of severe disease. This has led to the UK recommendation to offer a newly licensed live attenuated influenza virus (LAIV) vaccine to all children …