Farmers urged to get jabs amid fears over a mutant ‘super-virus’ strain of flu
Public Health Scotland is urging people who work with cattle, pigs and poultry to get a free flu vaccine, aiming to reduce the chance of human and animal flu infecting the same person and combining. Health experts say this precaution could help prevent a new flu strain that spreads easily among people and causes serious illness.
The recommendation covers farmers and farm workers, vets, inspectors, animal transport drivers and abattoir staff. PHS says animal flu variants can sometimes infect humans, while human flu viruses continually change; simultaneous infection could allow the viruses to mix. The vaccine is being promoted to protect public health as well as the workers themselves.
In short
- Scotland is offering free flu jabs to people working with livestock and poultry.
- The aim is to reduce the risk of human and animal flu combining.
- Experts say a resulting strain could spread easily and cause serious illness.
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The case for
Vaccinating people who work closely with livestock is a proportionate precaution: it reduces their risk of seasonal flu and may lower the chance that human and animal flu viruses infect the same person and mix. Because a strain with the potential to spread readily and cause serious illness could have grave consequences, even an uncertain risk can justify a free, targeted measure that also protects workers.
The case against
The recommendation rests on a possible chain of events, not evidence that such a strain is currently emerging or that vaccination would prevent the viruses from mixing. A seasonal flu jab does not protect against every animal flu variant, so the public should be given clear, measured information about the limits of the measure to avoid overstating what it can achieve.
Explained simply
Flu viruses change over time, and some types that usually infect animals can also infect people. Workers who have close contact with cattle, pigs or poultry may therefore be exposed to both animal and human flu.
If two flu viruses infect the same person at the same time, they may exchange genetic material and form a different strain. Health experts are concerned that a strain able to spread readily between people and cause serious illness could emerge this way, though this is a risk the vaccination advice is intended to reduce, not a claim that such a strain has appeared.
The advice applies to people including farm workers, vets, animal inspectors, transport drivers and abattoir staff. Vaccinating them against seasonal human flu may lower the chance of a person carrying human flu while also infected with an animal flu virus.