The Health Department has announced that all secondary school students in Jersey will be offered the flu vaccine for the first time to reduce the number of Islanders who fall ill from the virus this season.
And it has also revealed that Islanders aged 65 and over will received a ‘turbo-charged’ vaccine, while pregnant women and those with long-term health conditions such as diabetes will have a ‘gold standard’ jab that will protect them against four strains of
virus.
More than 42,700 Islanders who fall within these groups will be eligible for vaccines, which will be administered in nurseries, schools, GP surgeries and pharmacies.
Dr Linda Diggle, head of preventative programmes at Health, said this year the department was rolling out three extra measures to try to keep the ‘unpredictable’ flu virus under control.
Measures introduced by the Health Department last year – which included offering the flu jab in pharmacies and rolling out the nasal vaccine to all primary school children – helped cut the number of reported flu cases by half, and Dr Diggle said she hoped the latest moves would build on that success.
An additional 5,000 children will be eligible to receive the nasal spray immunisation when the programme is rolled out to the Island’s ten secondary schools this year.
Meanwhile, Islanders aged 65 and over – an age group that is more likely to suffer complications from flu, resulting in hospitalisation – will be eligible for an ‘adjudvanted’ vaccine for the first time.
‘This is a flu vaccine that will significantly boost the effectiveness of the vaccine for people aged 65 and over,’ Dr Diggle said.
‘What it does is improve their body’s immune response to the vaccine. This is important because typically older adults’ immune systems become weaker as they age, so they need a turbo-boosted vaccine to protect them.’
Islanders who fall in ‘at risk’ groups such as pregnant women and those aged between 16 and 64 with long-term illnesses – for example, heart disease – will be eligible for a ‘gold standard’ vaccination which offers protection against four strains of flu.
‘The aim is to get people vaccinated ahead of the winter flu season,’ Dr Diggle added. ‘Flu is unpredictable but it generally circulates mid to late December, January time.’
‘When you have the vaccination it takes a minimum of two weeks for the immunisation to protect you.’
