Dr Louise Marron.
Every winter, flu returns and flu season lasts from October to May. Flu is a highly infectious virus that spreads quickly. For many people, it can mean a week of aches and exhaustion, but for others, it can lead to severe illness and life-threatening complications like pneumonia or sepsis. In Ireland each year, between 200 and 350 die from flu, and thousands more are hospitalised.
Vaccination is the best protection we have against flu infection and its complications. Vaccination is especially important to protect those aged 60 years and older and anyone with an underlying medical condition against serious illness.
As a healthcare worker, each year, I get my flu vaccine to protect myself, my family and those I care for. I encourage you to do the same. Vaccination reduces your risk of getting sick and it also helps to stop flu from spreading to the people you love.
This year, the flu vaccine is available for free for a wide range of people: everyone aged 60 and over, all children aged 2 to 17, pregnant women at any stage of pregnancy, healthcare workers, and people living with underlying medical conditions, including those with a weak immune system. Carers, nursing home residents, and people who work closely with poultry or pigs are also included.
For children, the flu vaccine is available as a simple, pain-free nasal spray. It is quick and easy to get vaccinated. The flu vaccine protects children themselves from flu infection and its complications and vaccinating children also reduces the spread of flu within our communities. I will get my two children vaccinated to protect them, because, even though they are young and healthy, I know they can get the flu and that they could get quite unwell with it. My children also spend a lot of time with their grandparents and so by getting the flu vaccine they are protecting them and the rest of our family.
It couldn’t be easier to get protected. Vaccines are available through GPs, community pharmacies, workplace vaccination clinics, and in some schools. All flu vaccines and consultations are free for eligible groups.
The flu vaccine is safe, has been used worldwide for decades, and cannot give you flu. It takes about two weeks for your body to build protection, which means now is the time to act.
So this winter, I’m protecting myself, my family, and my community. I hope you’ll do the same.
Protect yourself. Protect others. Get the flu vaccine this winter.
Book your free appointment today with your GP or pharmacist, or visit www.hse.ie/flu
Learn more in our article Focus on flu: Five Things You Should Know about This Year’s Flu Vaccine