A specialist in aging urges the elderly to receive a seasonal immunization

Afaf al-Hamami, an expert in aging diseases, recommended on Sunday in Tunisia that the elderly take preventive precautions in their daily lifestyle and vaccinate against seasonal declines as winter approaches, to avoid respiratory infections. The call came as the immune system was aging and its ability to respond quickly and effectively to viruses and winter diseases declined.

Al-Hamami explained that the immune system's effectiveness gradually decreases with age 60 and varies among older adults, with a greater decline in those with chronic illnesses or who take antibiotics without guidance. She showed that cold weather does not necessarily mean getting inflamed, stressing the need to constantly ventilate rooms, keep sick children away from the elderly, quit smoking, drink enough water, and engage in dedicated physical activity, along with a Mediterranean diet to boost immunity.

She urged to hurry up to the nearest emergency department when symptoms of respiratory distress appear, explaining that those signs differ in older adults from others, as temperatures may not necessarily rise, and are limited to poor consciousness, weakness, extreme fatigue, low blood oxygen levels, as well as chest pains.

A Tunisian medical study published in 2026 in a scientific journal on respiratory diseases, which included a sample of 2,038 patients who visited emergency departments at 11 general hospitals and 85 private hospitals, suggests that 31.6% of these patients are elderly over the age of 65, while the proportion of those vaccinated against seasonal depression was not 4.9% in the sample studied.