HSE launch Staff Flu Vaccination Campaign

UL Hospitals Group and HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare have launched their 2020-2021 Staff Flu Vaccination Campaign, highlighting the unprecedented importance of vaccination against flu in the era of Covid-19, and helping UNICEF to fight measles in the developing world.

 

UNICEF ambassador Donncha O’Callaghan, famous throughout the Mid-West for his feats on the pitch with Munster Rugby, came to Limerick last week to help launch the staff flu vaccine campaign, which will also help protect tens of thousands of vulnerable children in the developing world from the threat of measles.

 

The ‘Get a Vaccine – Give a Vaccine’ initiative means that for every flu vaccination given to healthcare staff in the Mid-West, UL Hospitals Group and HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare are giving the cost of 10 measles vaccines to UNICEF for vulnerable children in the developing world. Donncha and UNICEF are urging healthcare workers and staff to answer this call to protect themselves and others, at home and in the developing world.

 

According to December 2019 data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 140,000 people worldwide died from measles in 2018. Last year alone, 5.2m children under the age of 5 years, and 1m adolescents died of preventable causes.

 

Calling for the maximum number of healthcare staff in the Mid-West to avail of the free staff flu vaccination, Donncha said: “I’m asking all our fantastic healthcare workers in UL Hospitals Group and HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare to get a vaccine to give a vaccine. We need you to lead the way in this. Not only are you protecting yourself – you are also protecting others.”

 

While the battle against Covid-19 continues, it is important to remember that flu is a very serious illness, and that up to 500 people die from the virus in Ireland every year. Healthcare workers are at increased risk of infection from flu. Almost 20% of healthcare workers in this country are infected every year. Over the past 60 years, the flu vaccine has proven a safe and effective protection from flu for millions of people.