Flu vaccine also recommended against COVID-19

Post on: 15.10.2024

With the coming winter months will also arrive the seasonal flu, a disease that is not always harmless. People at high risk of complications and their close contacts are therefore recommended to have a flu vaccination.

Flu vaccine: Flu vaccination is recommended again this year from six months of age for people at high risk of complications, i.e. those with chronic diseases, such as heart or respiratory diseases, pregnant women, premature babies and all people aged 65 and over.

Flu vaccine

Vaccination continues to be recommended for all those who, For professional or private reasons, I am in close contact with people at high risk of complications. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and the Federal Commission for Vaccination (FCV) therefore recommend vaccination in particular for people living in the same household, medical and nursing staff, employees of nurseries, day care centres and nursing homes and homes for the elderly, as well as family members of infants under six months of age.

The latter are at high risk of complications, but they cannot be vaccinated. The vaccine is also recommended for people who are regularly in contact with poultry or wild birds, so as to prevent them from contracting an influenza virus from an animal and a human influenza virus at the same time.

National Influenza Vaccination Day in doctors' offices and pharmacies

The best time to get vaccinated against influenza is from mid-October at the beginning of the flu wave, which is usually expected between mid-December and mid-March. On the occasion of National Flu Vaccination Day, interested parties throughout Switzerland can get vaccinated at many doctors' surgeries and pharmacies even without an appointment.

This year, National Flu Vaccination Day will take place on Friday, November 8, 2024. This is an initiative of the College of General Practitioners (CMB) in collaboration with the Swiss Medical Association (FMH), the Swiss Society of Pharmacists (pharmaSuisse) and the FOPH.

COVID-19 flu vaccine

The COVID-19 flu vaccine protects against severe illness. It is therefore recommended for those who have a high risk in this regard: people from the age of 65, people from the age of 16 with one or more pre-existing diseases or trisomy 21 and pregnant women. For all others, no vaccination recommendation is made since, in the absence of risk factors, the probability of becoming seriously ill is very low. Although it offers only little protection from infection or a mild course, COVID-19 vaccination can reduce the risk of developing a post-COVID-19 condition. Vaccination is ideally carried out between mid-October and December.

The FOPH recommends that people at high risk get vaccinated against both influenza and COVID-19. The two vaccinations can be carried out one after the other, at the desired interval, or at the same time.

Assumption of costs

If a vaccination is recommended and is carried out in a hospital or by a doctor, compulsory health insurance covers the costs less the deductible and the deductible.

Persons for who do not have a vaccination recommendation can be vaccinated after an individual assessment and decision. They and all the other people who get vaccinated in a pharmacy that offers this service pay for the vaccination out of their own pockets.