The HSE is to review its approach to influenza (flu) vaccination for healthcare workers (HCWs) following a large fall in uptake this winter, the Medical Independent (MI) can reveal.
Of the 107,947 HSE healthcare workers recorded between September 2024 and March 2025, approximately 34,000 received the flu vaccine, representing an uptake rate of only 32 per cent.
This is a sharp decline from the 2023/24 season, when uptake was 50.3 per cent. It is the lowest figure in almost a decade, according to figures supplied to MI by the HSE.
It is understood health authorities are dismayed at the figures following concerted efforts to increase coverage in recent years.
This season’s low uptake also represents a continuation of the worsening downward trend in flu vaccine uptake among HCWs since a peak during the 2020/21 season. During that season, the take-up rate among hospital-based staff reached 71.4 per cent.
This winter also saw Ireland experience its worst flu season since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
One source suggested that the current approach of offering HCWs the Covid-19 vaccine alongside the flu vaccine may be discontinued due to a growing resistance to receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. Uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine among HCWs during the 2024/25 season was under 12 per cent.
Health authorities also plan to gather more information on the take-up of the flu vaccine among community and nursing home-based HCWs, including GPs, practice nurses, and pharmacists.
HSE Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry confirmed the Executive will establish regional vaccination committees as part of its approach to improving vaccine uptake among HCWs and
other cohorts.
“This is a significant priority. We want to increase uptake of the [flu] vaccine nationally among all HCWs, but particularly among those working with vulnerable patients,” he told MI. See news feature, p12-13.
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