Abstract

Most experts consider it unlikely that there will be a major influenza epidemic this year, because a high proportion of the population is at present immune to the prevalent strains of virus. It is therefore not worth immunising healthy persons, but certain groups of people should be immunised because influenza can be serious for them. These groups are patients with chronic heart, chest, kidney or endocrine disease and elderly people, especially those in poor health. The inmates of old people's homes and other long-stay institutions should always be included, because like the members of most relatively closed communities they tend to be more susceptible than the population at large.