Vaccine for flu vital as Covid hits hard
HEALTH experts say this year’s flu campaign for GPs is of even more importance given the possibility of Covid-19 and flu circulating during the winter months.
In the last few weeks, there has been a greater prevalence of people testing positive for Covid-19, so they say it is vital to have a flu vaccine, if you meet the criteria.
Traditionally, the seasonal flu vaccine will be offered to high risk groups at increased risk of catching flu and experiencing its potential complications. Those at high-risk include:
Adults 65 and over
People with certain medical conditions (including children in at-risk groups from six months of age) Pregnant women People living with someone who is at high risk from coronavirus (on the nhs shielded patient list)
Children aged two and three on August 31, 2020
Children in primary school Children in Year 7 (secondary school) Frontline health or social care workers
The high-risk groups are similar year on year, but this year households of those on the shielding list and year 7 children are new additional groups.
There is also a plan to vaccinate all people aged 50-64 in November and December after the high-risk groups have all been vaccinated.
As in previous years, all GP Practices are set to administer flu vaccinations to their patients.
Due to the increased scale of delivery, this may look different from previous years.
Social distancing, staff wearing personal protective equipment will all be important, and it will take practices longer to vaccinate all eligible patients.
Local GP practices will likely contact you if you are in a high-risk group to tell you of their individual arrangements.
Midwives may be offering flu vaccines to pregnant women and community pharmacies will also be offering flu vaccines to all patients.
There are several types of flu vaccine: If you’re eligible for the flu vaccine on the NHS, you’ll be offered one that’s most effective for you and this is dependent on your age:
Children aged two to 17 are offered a live vaccine as a nasal spray. The live viruses have been weakened so will not give you flu
Adults aged 18 to 64 are offered an injected inactivated vaccine
Adults aged 65 and over are offered an injected inactivated vaccine.
If your child is aged between six months and two years old and is in a high-risk group for flu, they will be offered an injected flu vaccine because the nasal spray is not licensed for children under two.
Whilst flu is usually a self-limiting infection, it can have serious consequences and vulnerable people die from it every year.
The flu vaccine will not protect you against Covid-19 but it is important to have the flu vaccine as people susceptible to Covid-19 are also susceptible to flu.
Almost everyone can have the flu vaccine, but you should seek advice from a medical professional if you have had a serious allergy to the vaccine before, if you have an egg allergy, or a condition that weakens your immune system.
Vaccination against flu has been recommended since the 1960s.