Doctors yesterday urged people in high-risk groups to take preventive measures and get vaccinated against influenza, while people 65 or older should consider getting an adjuvanted flu vaccine, amid a longer-than-typical flu season.
The Lee CY’s Research Foundation for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Vaccines said that since the mask mandate was mostly lifted in April, flu infections have gradually increased, with more than 300 severe flu complication cases reported in the past six months, adding that the peak season was delayed until spring and summer.
National Taiwan University Children’s Hospital superintendent Huang Li-min (黃立民) said that in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 had an advantage over other viruses when competing for uninfected cells in the upper respiratory tract, leading to fewer people getting the flu.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
However, after the lifting of three years of pandemic restrictions, more people are getting the flu or other respiratory tract infections.
The peak flu season came earlier in the US and Australia last year, but in Taiwan — where the flu season is usually in autumn and winter, and plateaus in winter — the peak season has been delayed, meaning that people are at risk of flu infections all year, and the situation might continue for two to three years.
People at higher risk of developing severe flu complications — people 65 or older, children and those with chronic medical conditions — should especially take precautionary measures throughout the year and get the seasonal flu vaccination in autumn to prevent infection, Huang said.
Chan Ding-cheng (詹鼎正), director of National Taiwan University Hospital’s Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, said that among the severe flu complications reported this flu season, about half were in people aged 65 or older, and 87 percent did not get vaccinated.
The risk of developing severe illness in people older than 65 is about sevenfold greater than for those aged 25 to 49, and the fatality rate among people 65 or older with severe flu is 11 times greater than for people aged 25 to 49, he said.
However, only 45.8 percent of people aged 65 or older have received a government-funded flu vaccine, he added.
Moreover, due to immunosenescence — which is the progressive deterioration of the immune system with increasing age — people 65 or older might have weaker (about 50 percent protection) and shorter (effects lasting only about five months) responses to vaccination than younger adults, he said.
Huang said that in the UK and some other countries, people aged 65 or older have the option to receive an adjuvanted flu vaccine, which promotes a better immune response (by about 20 to 30 percent) and might extend the effect for as long as one year.
If it is introduced in Taiwan this year, people aged 65 or older should consider getting the pay-out-of-pocket adjuvanted flu vaccine too, he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS