Every flu season, the number of people who get ill by the various influenza viruses increases. The flu viruses affect people differently: while some people are mildly affected and may miss school, work, or social events as they rest and recover in a few days, others are severely affected and are hospitalized or even suffer fatal consequences due to influenza complications. It is hard to predict the severity of the seasonal influenza viruses and the number of people that may be affected each year. However, being fully prepared for combating the influenza viruses every season plays an important role in reducing the burden of the disease and losses associated with severe illness.

Populations - especially at-risk groups - are best protected by the annual seasonal flu vaccine. The influenza vaccine is proven to reduce the severity of the disease, and dramatically reduces the number of hospitalized patients. Nevertheless, the number of people who demand the vaccine is still low, and influenza remains one of the priority public health threats worldwide.

To discuss this issue further, EMPHNET held a webinar titled “Combating the Influenza Viruses.” This 90-minute session offered a space for subject-matter experts to highlight the best approaches to battle the influenza viruses in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). Additionally, the challenge of influenza vaccine hesitancy was addressed, through providing evidence-based approaches to communicate the influenza vaccine to different population groups with the purpose of increasing the demand and coverage of the influenza vaccine in the EMR.

The session was led by three speakers namely: Technical Officer, Senior Epidemiologist at World Health Organization - Eastern Mediterranean Region (WHO EMRO), Egypt Mr. Noore Alam; Communicable Disease Surveillance and Control Advisor at the Ministry of Health, Oman Dr. Salah Al Awaidy; and Health Scientist and Epidemiologist at CDC Atlanta, United States Ms. Margaret McCarron. The session was moderated by Public Health Expert, Professor, Baghdad University, Iraq, Dr. Faris Lami.

Dr. Lami started the webinar by welcoming the speakers and giving an introduction on the topic and stating the objectives of the session. He also introduced each of the speakers by giving a brief introduction about their professional backgrounds.

Dr. Noore Alam started his presentation by stating that the current flu season can be worse than past seasons and that the experience from the southern hemisphere can be used as indicative for the EMR. He also stated that the EMR countries have built capacities for surveillance and response. Finally, Dr. Alam ended his presentation by sharing WHO EMRO’s efforts in spreading informative media and info resources.

Succeeding Dr. Alam was Dr. Al Awaidy. His presentation was centered around the successes, challenges, and lessons learned in the GCC Countries’ response to the seasonal and pandemic influenza in the era of COVID-19. He started his presentation by stating that influenza is a serious health concern which is often underestimated and is in fact more severe, disruptive, and deadly than commonly recognized. He then continued by sharing statistics on the mortality and morbidity of the seasonal influenza virus in the EMR and a graph by FluNet containing Influenza and SARS-COV-2 Virus detection in the EMR. In regard to the GCC Countries’ success, Dr. Al Awaidy shared the policies and data from each GCC country respectively. He ended his presentation by stating that extra efforts are needed to regain the community’s trust.

The final speaker in this webinar was Ms. McCarron. Her presentation centered around Influenza vaccine hesitancy. She began her session by stating the importance of the influenza vaccine, and why vaccine hesitancy is a critical public health problem. She continued by discussing the low vaccination coverage and stated the causes of this hesitancy and its influencers. Ms. McCarron continued the session by stating that health workers have a higher chance of contracting the influenza virus and if they were vaccinated, they were more likely to recommend vaccines to their patients, and less likely to transmit the virus to them. Afterwards, Ms. McCarron discussed the problems of the Covid-19 and Influenza “twindemic” and presented the similarities between the viruses as well as some misconceptions around their vaccines.     

Following the presentations, Dr. Lami facilitated the Q&A session where participants and panelists engaged in the discussion. He then concluded the session by thanking the speakers and the attendees for their participation.

A total of 100 participants attended the webinar, deeming it another success in the EMPHNET WEBi Series.