Figures released by the Independent Health Mutuals on Tuesday show that the uptake of the annual vaccination against flu was lower among the over 65’s, people with chronic ailments and pregnant women in 2023 than had been the case in previous years. This has come about despite pharmacists having been able to administer the flue jab for the first time last year. Meanwhile, flu vaccine uptake remains well below the recommended level of 75%.
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 uptake of the flu vaccine peaked. However, since then it has fallen back. In 2023 50.7% of the over 65s got themselves immunised against flu, a fall of 0.8 percentage points on 2022. Meanwhile, 43.4% of people with a chronic condition that puts them at risk from the ill effects of flu got a flu jab.
The 2023 figures for pregnant women are not yet available. However, in 2022 just 14.8% of pregnant women in Belgium got a flu jab. All of the above figures don’t include flu vaccines administered to people in the workplace.