The number of people hospitalized for influenza in the first month of the campaign is nine times that of the previous year
Osakidetza has recorded an average of 21 in the same period of previous years and this year 192. The lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, has warned that the flu "comes strong, strong and aggressive" and the Basque Government has strengthened vaccination with a new point in Bilbao.
Hospital pressure from influenza has increased this autumn in the Basque Country. In the first four weeks of the 2025 vaccination campaign, 192 hospital admissions have been counted, nine times the average of previous years (21). Stays in the ICU have increased eight times, from one to eight, according to data disseminated by Osakidetza.
The increase in hospital admissions reflects the overall increase in the disease: 1,735 cases of influenza have been detected in one month, while in previous campaigns an average of 573 cases have been detected. In the last week alone, from 20 to 26 October, 583 infections were reported, exceeding 533 in the previous week.
Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, and Health Counselor, Alberto Martínez, present the data during a visit to Dr. Areilza's outpatient clinic. Pradales warns that influenza comes "strong, strong and aggressive" and Martinez stresses that vaccination is "the best mechanism for preventing hospitalizations, diseases and complications. "
The counselor compares immunization with the use of the seat belt: "No one doubts the wearing of the belt, and the vaccine is our belt in the face of this disease." In addition, he has made a special appeal to health workers to be vaccinated as an "almost ethical responsibility" towards patients and the elderly.
In view of the increase in the incidence, the Basque Government has set up a reinforcement centre in Bilbao to vaccinate people over the age of 14. During the first three days of activity, 4,799 people have been vaccinated, averaging 1,500 to 1,600 a day.
So far, around 300,000 doses have been administered in the Basque Country, or 13% of the population. Coverage is as follows: 34% of people over 60 years of age, 71% of people in residences against influenza and 60% of people against covid doses. Among children, 11,800 children aged between 6 and 59 months have been vaccinated (17.6%).