The Health Service Executive (HSE) has cancelled a tender for an enhanced flu vaccine for next winter due to the cost of the jab, the Minister for Health has said.
Every winter, influenza places a significant burden on Irish hospitals, with older people being particularly at risk of severe illness.
Enhanced flu vaccines are designed to better protect those aged 65 or older from severe illness and hospitalisation, reducing the burden on the hospital system.
Last October the Health Information and Quality Authority published a health technology assessment (HTA) on the newer jabs, stating they could reduce the impact of flu on this age cohort as well as the burden on the hospital system, but the benefit should be weighed against the cost of the vaccines.
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In response to a parliamentary question from Labour TD Alan Kelly, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill confirmed that the HSE had commenced a tender process for these enhanced vaccines.
“The HSE advised my department that neither of the enhanced vaccines for older people met the criteria set out in the HTA for net monetary benefit compared to standard flu vaccine,” she said.
“Given that the healthcare budget is finite and decisions regarding increased spending relating to a change in one area could impact the provision of other health technologies and treatments within the healthcare system, the cost-effectiveness must be considered in any decision-making process.”
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She added: “My department has considered the position and has determined that the introduction of an enhanced vaccine for the older age groups can be reconsidered when cost effectiveness is more favourable.”
Nigel O’Maloney, a community pharmacist in Cork, said older people “don’t get the same immunity from the standard vaccine”.
“Ageing makes everything less efficient; the immune system is no different. Giving them the vaccine that everyone else gest is suboptimal,” he said.
“So there should be a special vaccine for a special group of people. We are cutting the short-terms costs at the expense of longer-term public health. In week two of this year, the number of deaths from influenza was 53. They were lives that potentially could have been saved with these vaccines.”
Camille Loftus, head of advocacy and public affairs at Age Action, said older people have shown “great willingness” to receive the vaccine.
“Older people were hit by the flu over the Christmas period and hospitals were inundated,” she said.
“Anything that reduces admission into hospital is a good thing, particularly among older people. It is a pity, because it could mean older people who have had their [normal] vaccine could end up in hospital when they didn’t need to.”
According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, the flu vaccine uptake rate among people aged 65 and older in Ireland last winter was 75.7 per cent.
