HOW YOU CAN PROTECT YOURSELF

FLU season has well and truly begun - but how can you protect yourself and what should you do if you do fall ill?

You can have a free flu jab if you:

Are 65 years of age or over; Are pregnant; Have certain medical conditions;

Are living in a long-stay residential care home or other long-stay care facility;

Receive a carer’s allowance, or you are the main carer for an elderly or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk if you fall ill;

Front-line health and social care workers are also eligible to receive the flu vaccine. It is your employer’s responsibility to arrange and pay for this vaccine.

It’s also free on the NHS for:

Children aged over six months with a long-term health condition;

Children born between September 1, 2013, and August 31, 2015, i.e. children aged two or three on August 31, 2017;

Children in reception class and school years one, two, three and four.

The NHS advise that children aged between six months and two years who are eligible for the vaccine should have the flu jab. Those eligible aged from two to 17 will usually have a flu vaccine nasal spray.

Symptoms of flu include: body aches, coughing, exhaustion, fever, headache, minor congestion, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea.

For more advice on the flu, visit https:// www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/ flu-influenza-vaccine/