Some had to give up celebrating Christmas, others are preparing for a sad New Year's Eve with a cold. The holidays at the end of 2023 brought bad news regarding health, with the return of the flu and Covid viruses.
«We are close to the peak of respiratory diseases and influenza» , explains the head of the Vaccinoprophylaxis service of the ASL of Cagliari Gabriele Mereu , «we hope to reach it within the first days of January, around the Epiphany. We have an incidence of parainfluenza illnesses of around 12 cases out of 1000 in the general population, but with numbers 3/4 times higher in children."
This is also due to poor adherence to the anti-Covid vaccination campaign: «Also due to the mistaken belief that a further dose is superfluous and useless . In reality, the virus is constantly changing", continues Mereu, "and the vaccines that were prepared two or three years ago no longer protect against the new serotype. In fact, many people who are currently hospitalized for respiratory complications have not received the fifth dose of the vaccine."
However, the trend of anti-flu vaccinations is different, with 115 thousand doses already distributed: "It is estimated that around one citizen in five will be vaccinated at the end of the season in the area of the Cagliari Local Health Authority", specifies the person in charge. In addition to the center of the capital, in the Binaghi hospital, from January there will be a new vaccination point in Quartu, in via Colombo. Not only that, because the open days will continue in the area: «We have to get used to the idea», concludes Mereu, «that every year we have to do the booster of the flu vaccine but also of the anti-Covid one. Vaccines carried out in the past are no longer effective on the virus the following year ."
(Unioneonline/L.Ne.)
