Influenza season is approaching – vaccinate your employees

Seasonal flu or influenza is an inflammation of the airways caused by the influenza A or B virus, whereas a common cold is caused by several different viruses. Also, the symptoms of influenza are more severe. Typical symptoms include high fever, severe joint pain, shivers, fatigue, headache, nausea, and a bad cough.

The most groups at risk include pregnant women, children younger than three years, and people with chronic diseases, such as a heart or lung disease or diabetes. Influenza can also aggravate primary diseases and cause secondary diseases, the most common being bronchitis and pneumonia. Most healthy people have a friend or a family member who belongs to one of the high-risk groups. Getting vaccinated helps you protect them.

Vaccination prevents influenza

Vaccination is the most effective way to protect against influenza, preventing 50–80 percent of cases and shortens the duration of the disease. It is recommended to get vaccinated well before the first wave of influenza, which often takes place at the turn of the year, to ensure the body has time to develop enough antibody before. It takes about two weeks to develop good antibody protection. Terveystalo uses an effective quadrivalent influenza vaccine that protects against four types of the virus: two influenza A and two influenza B viruses. 

Influenza viruses change constantly, so a flu shot taken last year or the year before no longer protects you against the virus this year.  

If you would like to offer vaccination to your staff, please contact your Terveystalo occupational health team or request a quote

During the flu season, remember remote services, the terveystalo app and online appointment booking

During the flu season, we recommend that companies remind their personnel of remote occupational health services and encourage using those.

• Doctor Chat and Nurse Chat are available 24/7 without an appointment. 
• We also offer video appointments to companies.
• We recommend that our corporate customers check if their services include online appointment booking.

Please ask your employees to download the Terveystalo app to use services provided by Terveystalo’s professionals. In the app, employees can securely contact occupational health through the Messages function or contact a remote physician, if that is included in the company’s occupational health agreement.

Self-reporting increases flexibility

Self-reporting helps avoid unnecessary visits to the clinic and saves time, money, and effort. We recommend introducing self-reporting to your organization, especially now that the flu season is about to start. Everyone benefits when employees with mild symptoms can just call in sick and rest at home. This significantly decreases the burden of health care services and helps prevent the spread of the infection. Self-reporting is also a sign of trust towards the organization, as openness and giving more responsibility improve motivation and the work atmosphere, leading to better job satisfaction and commitment to work.

When self-reporting is in use, the employer and the employees agree on sickness absences. If the duration of the absence exceeds the waiting period (typically the date of the onset of illness plus nine days), the employee must provide the employer with a medical certificate. After the waiting period, Kela pays daily sickness allowance against a medical certificate. Usually, sickness allowance is paid up to 60 business days when the employee has medical certificate A.