Taoiseach appeals for people to get vaccinated as 'very serious flu' outbreak to peak this week

With “a very serious flu” outbreak expected to peak this week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said pop-up vaccination clinics are offering the flu jab to anyone who needs it.

Mr Martin appealed to those who have not yet been vaccinated to get the jab, as the winter flu has been forecast by the HSE to reach its peak in and around Christmas Day, with hospital workers bracing themselves for a surge in admissions during Christmas week.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Irish peacekeepers stationed at Camp Shamrock in South Lebanon on Saturday, Mr Martin said the flu was “a matter of ongoing concern” for the HSE and the Government.

“It is a very serious flu, and all the advice is that it will peak in and around Christmas Day and Christmas week, and there are various actions being taken by the health services and have been taken already which are mitigating the impact on acute hospital services, to the greatest degree possible,” he said.

“There will be varying actions taken by various hospitals in terms of the restrictions and so on, very much based on the rates of flu in given communities.” 

Mr Martin said pop-up vaccination clinics would be set up in various locations, offering the flu jab to anyone who needed it.

“Even at this stage I would appeal to people to get vaccinated, that’s the best defence a person can have against this flu, it is a particularly strong strain of flu, and it is a matter of ingoing concern,” he said.

At the start of last week, 634 people were hospitalised with the flu, and HSE CEO Bernard Gloster said hospital workers were expecting a surge for Christmas week.

Mr Gloster said the HSE had been predicting a range of 700 to 1,500 cases being in hospital on any one day at the height of the flu outbreak, but those expectations had moderated somewhat.

“That range has now narrowed to a band of 800 to 1,100,” he said.

“We will also see the same number of new cases hospitalised per week. The latest modelling data available to me today is that the flu will peak Christmas week.” 

Advice on the flu, including a list of walk-in clinics, is available from the HSE at https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/flu/