FORT Organizes Influenza Vaccination Day

FORT, a Rostec State Corporation Nacimbio Holding biopharmaceutical company, the country's largest manufacturer of influenza vaccines, conducted a traditional annual vaccination campaign at its plant. More than 100 employees of the plant, as well as more than 80 of its guests, were vaccinated against seasonal flu.

The Under the FORT Protection campaign, which has been continuously held at the plant for eight years, traditionally attracts friends and partners of the enterprise. This year, representatives of the administration and various organizations of the Ryazan Region visited the vaccination and the pre-vaccination lecture on the topic “Immunoprophylaxis as the Key Part of Occupational Safety” held by Igor Nikitin, Dr. habil. med., Science Advisor at Rostec State Corporation Nacimbio Holding. Among them were Marina Naumova, Minister of Finance, Tatyana Boldyreva, Head of the regional office of Roszdravnadzor for the Ryazan Region, and Valeriy Eremin, Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways of the Ryazan Region.

Veniamin Potashnikov, FORT Production Complex Director, welcomed the guests as presented a summary of the company’s activities this year and also spoke about the key features of the vaccine used for vaccination at the event.

For the fifth year now, participants can avail themselves of the latest generation Ultrix Quadri product, which contains four strains of influenza viruses, i. e. two subtypes of the A virus (A/H1N1+ A/H3N2) and two subtypes of the B virus (B/Yamagata + B/Victoria). Each dose of the vaccine contains 15 µg of each strain’s antigens and 60 µg in total. The drug contains no preservatives, stabilizers, and adjuvants, i.e. substances used to artificially enhance the immune response. Since 2019, the product has been available to citizens as part of the National Preventive Immunization Schedule.

Influenza is a serious medical and social issue. According to several experts, in Russia, up to 90% payments towards infection-related temporary disability benefits account for influenza and ARVI.

“One of the main sources of financial losses in enterprises is the costs associated with the illness-triggered absence of employees. If no measures are taken, organizations can temporarily lose up to 30-40% of their staff at the peak of the flu incidence,” said Igor Nikitin.

“Vaccination is an important part of occupational safety. When we run a vaccination campaign at the enterprise, we protect the health of our employees and also reduce the risk of losing working days due to infection, which is critical for our industry,” added Veniamin Potashnikov.