Routine flu vaccination prevented more than 800 flu-related hospital admissions in Wales last winter, with officials estimating a third more people would have been hospitalised without the shots, Public Health Wales reported this week.
More than one million people in Wales received a flu vaccine last year, including over 200,000 with conditions such as diabetes, asthma, COPD and heart disease, and more than 10,000 pregnant women. Officials noted that adults with chronic liver disease are over 40 times more likely to suffer serious flu outcomes.
Public Health Wales is urging everyone eligible to take up this winter's free NHS flu vaccine. Health officials say early fall is the best window — immunity takes about two weeks to build.
The findings land as Ontario opens its own fall respiratory season campaign: the province offered flu, COVID and RSV shots to high-risk and priority groups starting the week of September 28, with general-public pharmacy access opening October 26, according to Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore.
