ZAGREB, 20 October, 2021 - Influenza has not disappeared because of COVID-19, so it is important to get vaccinated also against the flu which, like COVID, can become a serious illness, it was said on Wednesday at the launch of a public health project highlighting the importance of education about flu vaccination.
The project is called "This season health is in".
Flu vaccination begins in November every year and 650,000 doses have been ordered for this season. The first 260,000 have arrived and are being distributed.
People can get a shot at their family doctor's as well as in pharmacies, which have ordered between 15,000 and 20,000 doses, much less than last year's 150,000.
The purpose of getting vaccinated against the flu is to prevent serious illness, and people can get shots against the flu and COVID-19 simultaneously, said Goranka Petrović of the Croatian Institute of Public Health.
The pandemic has increased interest in the flu vaccine and last year it was important to us that people were vaccinated for their own protection and for the protection of hospitals, so as to reduce the uncertainties of the two diseases, she said.
Croatia has been recording an increase in flu vaccination in recent years. Last year the number of flu patients was very low due to COVID restrictions and a high vaccination rate, but it remains to be seen if the same thing will happen this year, which makes flu vaccination even more important, experts said.
Ana Soldo of the Croatian Chamber of Pharmacies said pharmacies had lots of potential in promoting vaccination given that 400,000 people pass through them every day.
She added that last year more than 5,000 people were vaccinated against the flu in seven days in pharmacies at 80 locations across the country.
