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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by