Flu season compounded by vaccines’ lack of effectiveness, says Dr. Trilla

Once more, Catalonia has officially declared the year’s flu outbreak. Calls to emergency services increased by 12% in the past few weeks, and home visits by doctors have gone up by 57%. While that may not come as news, the situation this year is a bit different: emergency rooms in some hospitals are busier than usual, according to trade unions. Antoni Trilla is the Head of Epidemiology at Hospital Clínic, in Barcelona, one of Catalonia’s largest public hospitals. And from an epidemiological perspective, the situation is worse than in other years, too, as Dr Trilla explained. 

What is the current situation of the flu season in Catalonia? Has the worst already come?

We are just starting to see the period of increase in the flu season. There are a lot of cases at the time being, some severe cases in old people, and we believe that the peak point of the flu season in Catalonia is just starting.

Is there anything exceptional about this year's outbreak?

So far, we've been a little surprised by a change in the virus. When we made the vaccine last year, we believed that the virus circulating would be, let’s say, the ‘Virus A,’ but then we had the surprise that 'Virus B’ is circulating, which is not included in the vaccine. So this season has also been compounded by a lack of effectiveness against the flu.

How does the current flu season in Catalonia relate to trends in other countries?

Currently, the northern hemisphere is experiencing severe flu season, especially northern countries in Europe: England, the U.K., and the Southern part of Europe: Spain and Italy. The situation in the U.S. is a little bit different from the situation here, in Europe, but as far as today - although it may seem a little bit strange - it’s been a normal flu season.

Are the resources at your disposal enough to face the flu season? What could be done to make your work easier?

Each flu season we have a shortage of healthcare professionals, a shortage of beds, long delays, and long waiting times to being admitted to hospital. This is ‘winter pressure,’ and every year we face some three, four weeks of high winter pressure. This year, the winter pressure has been severe, in Catalonia. Hopefully, a better planning for the system, a better financing for the system, more resource, human resources and fundamental resources like beds, spare beds, could be of help. It's been happening year after year for a long time, so I think it's time to plan a little bit further ahead.