Fylde coast residents are being urged to get vaccinated against the flu as the risks of infection are still high this winter.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says vaccination can help protect adults and children at risk of flu and its complications.
Flu can be unpleasant but if you are otherwise healthy it will usually clear up on its own.
However, flu can be more severe in certain people, such as anyone aged 65 and over, pregnant women, children and adults with an underlying health condition (particularly long-term heart or respiratory disease) and children and adults with weakened immune systems.
Anyone in these risk groups is more likely to develop potentially serious complications of flu, such as pneumonia (a lung infection), so it’s recommended that they have a flu vaccine every year to protect them.
The injected flu vaccine is offered free on the NHS annually to adults over the age of 18 at risk of flu (including everyone aged 65 and over), pregnant women and children aged six months to two years at risk of flu.
The flu vaccine is routinely given on the NHS as an annual nasal spray to children aged two, three and four years old plus children in school years one, two and three and children aged two to 17 years at a particular risk of flu.
People are eligible for the flu vaccine this year (2016-17) if they will be aged 65 and over on March 31 2017 – that is, they were born on or before March 31, 1952. So, if you are currently 64 but will be 65 on March 31 2017, you do qualify.
You can have your NHS flu jab at your GP surgery, a local pharmacy offering the service, your midwifery service if they offer it for pregnant women.
Some community pharmacies now offer flu vaccination to adults (but not children) at risk of flu including pregnant women, people aged 65 and over, people with long-term health conditions and carers.
If you have your flu jab at a pharmacy, you don’t have to inform your GP – it is up to the pharmacist to do that.
Flu vaccine is the best protection we have against an unpredictable virus that can cause unpleasant illness in children and severe illness and death among at-risk groups, including older people, pregnant women and those with an underlying medical health condition.
Studies have shown that the flu jab does work and will help prevent you getting the flu. It won’t stop all flu viruses and the level of protection may vary between people, so it’s not a 100% guarantee that you’ll be flu-free, but if you do get flu after vaccination it’s likely to be milder and shorter-lived than it would otherwise have been.
There is also evidence to suggest that the flu jab can reduce your risk of having a stroke.
Over time, protection from the injected flu vaccine gradually decreases and flu strains often change. So new flu vaccines are produced each year which is why people advised to have the flu jab need it every year too.
Read more about how the flu jab works.
Serious side effects of the injected flu vaccine are very rare. You may have a slight temperature and aching muscles for a couple of days after having the jab, and your arm may be a bit sore where you were injected.
The best time to have a flu vaccine is in the autumn, from the beginning of October to early November, but don’t worry if you’ve missed it, you can have the vaccine later in winter. Ask your GP or pharmacist.
Each year, the viruses that are most likely to cause flu are identified in advance and vaccines are made to match them as closely as possible. The vaccines are recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Most injected flu vaccines protect against three types of flu virus:
A/H1N1 – the strain of flu that caused the swine flu pandemic in 2009.
A/H3N2 – a strain of flu that mainly affects the elderly and people with risk factors like a long term health condition. In 2016/17 the vaccine will contain an A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 H3N2-like virus.
Influenza B – a strain of flu that particularly affects children. In 2016/17 the vaccine will contain B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus.
The nasal spray flu vaccine and some injected vaccines also offer protection against a fourth B strain of virus, which in 2016/17 is the B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus.
People who aren’t eligible for a flu jab on the NHS can pay for a flu vaccination privately. The flu vaccine may be available from pharmacies or in supermarkets. It is provided on a private patient basis and you have to pay. The vaccine costs up to £20.
For more information on flu vaccination go to this link:
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vaccinations/Pages/flu-vaccine-questions-answers
Or click on: about the flu vaccine