The HSE is asking people in the Midlands region to avail of the flu vaccine.
Dr Una Fallon, Director of Public Health Medicine with the HSE’s Public Health Department in the Midlands said while interventions in place for Covid-19, such as social distancing, mask wearing and international travel restrictions resulted in extremely low flu activity levels globally in the last season, a lower level of population immunity against flu is expected in 2021 to 2022.
“Flu is unpredictable and it is not possible to know whether there will be a mild or severe flu season. However, we do know that the flu vaccine will give you the best protection against flu this season.
“We also want to avoid scenarios whereby people might become co-infected with flu and Covid-19 and the severe illness that may be involved. A high uptake of the flu vaccine, will help the health services during the winter to manage the demand on services from all lung infections, including flu, COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses. It will also help those who are vulnerable to have a safer, healthier winter,” Dr Fallon stated.
This year, the flu vaccine is recommended for you and is free of charge if you are in one of these groups:
· Aged 65 and over
· A health care worker
· A child aged 2 – 17
· At any stage of pregnancy
· People with certain medical conditions which put them at increased risk from the complications of flu.
