Support The NHS & It's Amazing Staff This Winter! Video Collaboration with Public Health England.
Whether you call it flu vaccine or flu shot this weeks video is about the NHS flu vaccine, its effectiveness, side effects & other ingredients.
Flu leads to hundreds of thousands of GP visits and tens of thousands of hospital stays a year. In the UK an average of 8,000 people die per year from complications of flu. Last year flu killed 15,000 people and the year before that it was 16,000 people.
Flu leads to hundreds of thousands of GP visits and tens of thousands of hospital stays a year. In the UK an average of 8,000 people die per year from complications of flu. Last year flu killed 15,000 people and the year before that it was 16,000 people.
Apart from protecting individual people, getting the flu vaccine helps to reduce the spread of the disease, and so reduces the chance of passing on the flu virus to other people who may be at risk of flu.
If you are eligible for the free NHS flu vaccine, let's play our part and get vaccinated to support the NHS and all of its hard working amazing staff this winter. Help spread the word to friends and family.
Flu (influenza) is a common infectious viral illness spread by coughs and sneezes. For healthy adults under the age of 65 it can be very unpleasant, you begin to feel better within about a week.
You can catch flu all year round, but it's especially common in winter, which is why it's also known as seasonal flu.
Some of the main symptoms of flu include:
Flu can make you feel so exhausted and unwell that you have to stay in bed and rest until you feel better.
Flu can lead to serious complications and death, especially for people in risk groups. In rare cases flu can kill people who are otherwise healthy.
In the UK the NHS flu vaccine is available each year from late September or early October onwards. If you are in the risk group It is recommended to get the flu vaccine in the autumn, before outbreaks of flu have started. It takes up to two weeks after vaccination for you to be protected against flu.
The inactivated flu vaccine does not contain any live flu viruses and cannot give you flu. In the 2018-19 season, two different types of inactivated flu vaccine will be offered in the UK.
Those aged 65 or over will be offered a trivalent flu vaccine (protecting against three strains of flu virus) which also contains an adjuvant.
Those aged under 64 years in eligible groups will be offered a quadrivalent flu vaccine (protecting against four strains of flu virus).
