Autumn vaccinations against covid-19 and influenza are to help us through the winter

Autumn is just around the corner, and we expect that the number of covid-19 and influenza infections will increase in the near future. The aim of the autumn vaccination programme against covid-19 and influenza is to protect those at risk of becoming severely ill.

Therefore, the Danish Health Authority recommends that everyone aged 50 and over receive a booster vaccination against covid-19. We also recommend to give booster vaccination against covid-19 to pregnant women, staff in the healthcare and elderly care sector and in selected parts of the social services sector who have close contact with citizens and patients at higher risk as well as relatives of persons at particularly higher risk. Selected persons aged under 50 who are at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19 will also be able to receive a booster vaccination based on an individual assessment.

We recommend influenza vaccination for everyone aged 65 and over as well as for persons with certain chronic diseases, children aged between 2 and 6, pregnant women in the second and third trimesters and staff in the healthcare and elderly care sector and selected parts of the social services sector.

“It’s important that those who are at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19 or influenza are protected before an increase in the number of infections in the autumn. Therefore, we encourage everyone to get vaccinated when they receive the offer. This is how we can get through this winter safely without too much illness,” says Søren Brostrøm, Director General of the Danish Health Authority.

The reason why we also recommend vaccination against covid-19 for persons aged under 50 who are either relatives of persons at particularly higher risk or of healthcare professionals or others who are in contact with persons at particularly higher risk is that the variant-updated mRNA vaccines that we use in the autumn vaccination programme may have a preventive effect on infection.

“We expect the new vaccines to provide better protection, especially against the Omicron variants we expect to dominate during the winter season,” says Søren Brostrøm.
Before the vaccination programme starts, we will publish guidelines on which groups aged under 50 will be offered covid-19 booster vaccination due to a higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19.

When will we start and what is the procedure?

The vaccination programme for both covid-19 and influenza will start on 1 October 2022. However, nursing home residents and citizens aged 85 or over will be offered covid-19 vaccination already from mid-September.

Nursing home residents will be offered vaccination at their place of residence, while other citizens aged over 85 will receive an invitation in e-Boks/mit.dk or by regular mail around mid-September. They can then book a vaccination appointment at vacciner.dk or by calling a regional hotline.

Together with regions, municipalities and other agencies, the Danish Health Authority has worked to create a new and strengthened organisation and management of the vaccination programme, so that we will face the autumn with effective and easily accessible vaccination offers for citizens.

The vaccinations will still mainly be given at the regional vaccination centres in the big cities combined with, for example, some local medical centres and private vaccination centres, as well as mobile vaccination units for citizens who are not able to travel to a vaccination centre.

If you are in the target group for, for example, vaccination against both influenza and covid-19, you will have the opportunity to get both vaccines at the same time.

We use variant-updated vaccines

We will offer variant-updated vaccines, which are a further development of the original mRNA vaccines we already know. The vaccines have now been updated to provide better protection against the Omicron variant, and we also expect the effect of the vaccines to last longer. The vaccines are regarded as very safe, and the side effects are the same as with the original mRNA vaccines.