By Michael McHale

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Uptake of the flu vaccine among public healthcare workers last winter was the lowest seen in seven years, newly released figures show.

Data from the Health Protection and Surveillance Centre (HPSC) revealed that 45.4 per cent of health staff based in public hospitals received the flu jab in the winter of 2024/25.

The last time this figure fell below 50 per cent was in 2017/18, when 44.8 per cent of these healthcare workers received the inoculation.

Across the six healthcare regions, uptake fell to as low as 34.5 per cent in hospitals in the West and North West. This was followed by Dublin and North East, with an uptake rate of 41.8 per cent.

Mid West and South West hospitals had an uptake of 42.3 per cent and 43.3 per cent respectively, while the Dublin and Midlands regions reached 49 per cent vaccination rates.

Dublin and South East was the only region where more than half of its public hospital healthcare staff received the flu vaccine. Hospitals there had an uptake rate of 57.2 per cent last winter.

Health officials will be hoping to see greater uptake of the vaccine this winter after this year’s flu strain led to significantly high levels of the virus in recent months in Australia.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called for health officials to prepare a detailed plan to address the likely high levels of overcrowding expected in Irish hospitals this winter.

“We must heed the warnings of our Australian colleagues who witnessed a record-breaking flu season this year,” said INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha.

“Our public health system cannot cope with a deluge of respiratory illnesses over the coming months.

“Each HSE regional health authority must outline in detail what it plans to do to radically reduce not just the number of patients being treated in inappropriate spaces but the amount of time a patient is spending on a trolley.”

An analysis of flu vaccine uptake since 2011 show that uptake of the inoculation among public hospital healthcare workers peaked at the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020/21, when 71.4 per cent were vaccinated.

Last winter uptake was highest among doctors with staff in the ‘Medical and Dental’ category having a national uptake rate of 60.6 per cent.

Among health and social workers, uptake was 56.1 per cent, but among nurses this fell to just 42.9 per cent.

Fifty public hospitals provided data for the HPSC report. Its authors do, however, point to certain factors that may have led to under-reporting of vaccine uptake. These include workers being potentially vaccinated outside of their workplace, such as in GP clinics or pharmacies, and these records not being included in overall totals.

For the first time, last winter the HPSC also collected data on levels of COVID-19 vaccination among public hospital staff. A total of 42 public hospitals contributed data, which showed an overall uptake rate of just 14.9 per cent.

Uptake of the COVID vaccine in public hospitals was highest among medical and dental staff at 28.1 per cent and lowest among other patient and client care staff at 8.5 per cent.

For the forthcoming 2025/2026 vaccination season, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee has recommended that healthcare workers who are aged 60 years and above, or under 60 but with a medical condition associated with a higher risk of COVID-19 hospitalisation, should continue to receive a Covid vaccine once or twice each year as indicated by their underlying condition.