High interest in Kosovo in seasonal flu vaccine

Faik Hoti from the National Institute of Public Health, calling for greater participation in the vaccine, confirmed that the first case with this year's seasonal flu has already been recorded in IKSHPK.

Hoti stressed that the vaccine will be offered free for the most endangered groups, including people over 65, chronically ill, pregnant women, children over six months and health workers.

Kosovo's “Days ago has begun vaccines against seasonal flu since flu vaccines have been provided over time, there are about 86 thousand doses that will be used for vaccinating priority groups with risk groups such as persons over 65 years of age, chronically ill people, pregnant women, 6 months old children, as well as other people who have compressed immunity. This year's vaccine has begun over time and we as institutions call on citizens to head to the vaccine centers. So that we can get the vaccine because this year we can have cases and we as IKSHP just recorded one case of the seasonal flu”, he says.

According to Fik Hoti of IKSHPK, thousands of citizens are already vaccinated against seasonal flu, but it underlines that it is necessary for health personnel to be included in the communication process as well.

“Vaxination began in early October in the first week of interest is extremely good, we see reports from family medical centres have increased interest and what is positive people in Kosovo have understood that preventative culture or prevention is the most effective way to respond to any public health challenge in concrete flu case”, he said.

Hoti says immunization against seasonal flu is the most effective way to prevent flu complications.

The best defense has preventative effects... There is no more efficient and accessible means to prevent the flu than the vaccine. All those citizens who fall into the category of risk is to vaccinate, and we in these categories would like to include the medical community because they are categories that have a lot of civil contacts with“, he said.

Over 67 thousand citizens were immune to seasonal flu in Kosovo last year, while this year health authorities are aiming for even broader involvement.

There's definitely more than 6-month-old citizens of six-month-olds, of course, some groups are more of a priority... last year there's more than 67,000 vaccinated we expect this year to have more because we're holding different information meetings with citizens as with the medical community so that the rate of vaccine increases and we have a population protected since the means to protect”, Hoti said.

Over 700 cases of seasonal flu, both with the A and B virus, have been recorded in Kosovo last year.

Categories such as people with chronic diseases below the age of 65, health workers, pregnant women, children from 6 months to 5 years of age with health indicators are some of the highest categories to be vaccinated with seasonal flu vaccines. /kp