BERN. Switzerland opens a national vaccination week on Monday 2 November, the first of two this month, so that people can get a flu jab, a Covid-19 jab and, at some counters, a shot against the respiratory virus RSV. The Federal Office of Public Health says the choice remains personal. It also says the people most at risk should not wait for the second week if a dose is already on the shelf.
The second week, from 23 to 28 November, was added because delivery has slipped. About 40 per cent of this autumn’s flu doses are late. The office is explicit about the cause and about what it is not. The World Health Organization named the strains for this season’s flu vaccine later than usual, so manufacturers started production later. “This is not a shortage, only a delay,” the office says. It says there is still time to vaccinate before the flu wave, which in a typical year does not begin before the middle of December.
Who is being asked to go, and what a pharmacy can do
The groups the office names are people over 65, pregnant women, people with chronic illness, and close contacts of people who are vulnerable. Doctors’ offices and participating pharmacies can vaccinate during the week. A pharmacy visit can be without an appointment. Reimbursement by basic health insurance is a separate question: if the jab is given in a pharmacy, a doctor’s prescription is required before the basic insurer will pay.
Coverage is the reason the campaign exists. In the last survey the office cites, for the 2023/24 season, 37 per cent of people over 65 had a flu jab. Among people with chronic illness the share was a little under three in ten. About a quarter of health staff were vaccinated, and about one in six people who are in regular contact with groups at risk. Every one of those shares was slightly down on the season before.
What to do this week if you are in a risk group
For a healthy adult who is not around vulnerable people, the week is an offer, not an instruction. For anyone in the groups above, the practical path is a participating doctor or pharmacy between now and Saturday, with a second window at the end of the month if the first delivery has not reached the local counter. Calling ahead is worth it where a pharmacy has already said its flu stock is one of the late batches. Covid-19 and, in some places, RSV are on the same visit.
The premium letters for 2027 are already the household argument about what health care costs. The average premium rises 4.9 per cent next year. A flu jab does not change that letter. It is the part of the winter bill that a delayed shipment, rather than a political decision, is currently holding up. The office’s advice is to use the delay, not to wait it out until December.