Infection with the influenza (flu) virus can lead to additional complications which include bacterial pneumonia. Patients with coeliac disease are at a slightly increased risk of catching bacterial pneumonia. Therefore, vaccinating people with coeliac disease against influenza is not due to an increased risk of acquiring the viral infection itself, but an increased risk of having more severe disease complications if they were to get it.
So even though there doesn’t seem to be an increased risk of viral infections, in my local area we decided to offer everyone with coeliac disease vaccination against flu (a virus) as it seemed a sensible thing to do as so many other groups are offered it. The flu vaccine is given to lots of people with health conditions and we didn’t want to exclude people with coeliac disease from having the vaccination. Having this vaccination does not in itself mean you are in an ‘at risk’ group.