UKH

I had my Flu jab this week, meh, so what.

However did people know that there is a Pneumonia jab ,because I didn't?

If you know somebody over 65, get them to chat to their local chemist. It may be the best £20 they ever spend.

The pneumonia jab won't protect you from pneumonia resulting from Covid. Neither will the flu jab. You can get pneumonia from many different infections and what people refer to as the 'pneumonia jab' protects you against a common bacterial route to peumonia. You can still get pneumonia from Covid. 

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/pneumococcal-vaccination/

However, these jabs are important as they will take some of the stress off hospitals this winter. And you don't want to be hospitalised with flu and then get Covid as well. 

I thought it was free for over 65s on the NHS? Under 65 yrs old it costs £70 I was told up here in Scotland when I got my flu jab.

I got  my flu jab as a birthday present in the hospital on placement.. Not quite the best present I got, but not bad..

My mom is way, way over 65 and ticks all the respiratory boxes. The chemist said she had to pay. And in the grand scheme of things, my mom thought this was £20 well spent.

I think it may be free at the doctors in some areas?  I'm not sure but mum thinks she had it.  

I need to persuade dad.  He doesn't do doctors.  To be fair he is pretty healthy but I think it's a good idea.  

I've had the free for over 65s +vulnerables NHS jab for pneumococcal (not other forms of pneumonia) vaccine. GPs normally offer this to people when they reach that age.

I read recently on the NHS website that the Government were bringing in free flu jabs for all 50+'s. What's happened to that? I'm 60 and work in a supermarket and have so far not had any health problems. I think I'll just cough up (pardon me!) and see if my GP can arrange one.

In Scotland there is currently a huge backlog of the regular flu vaccine. This year it is being handled nationally rather than by surgeries. I currently might have to wait till December to get mine while in previous years it would have been this week when we had the mass clinic. A real shambles at a time when it matters.

Yeah. What you really don’t need is double pneumonia in a single room. That would be a lost weekend and the sickest joke if you were in Amsterdam.

Up here in Scotland, I was told by a pharmacist that over 50s won’t get them till later in the year, and that it will likely be from December. As mentioned by Keith, it’s not GP surgeries doing it this year and there has been problems so far. Some over 65s are having to wait much longer this year. 

It’s Lloyd Cole! Does no one have a laugh anymore? X

It rang a bell but I couldn't remember the rest of it.  

Both my partner and I have had the flu jab.

Great work being done by Elmwood Family Doctors in Holmfirth. Very much on top of job!

The backlog of administering the flu jab is a shambles?

Maybe the people who normally focus on this task are overworked with more pressing medical issues that the moment which may be impinging on their ability to fill the backlog.

Maybe this other more pressing medical issue has been highlighted in your local news?

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

The numbers of people with a recommendation for vaccination has doubled - so delays are inevitable - there should be some prioritisation for those over 65, those with co-morbidities and those working with these groups. There isn't a magic flu vaccine tree, particularly as they have a relative short expiry and are usually changed once a year to fit the prevailing type. If you are in these groups yous should press for this.

Pharmacies sometimes offer these things as a private service, not an NHS service.

When the GP does the pneumococcal vaccine, that's an NHS thing.

In England (e.g. the surgeries I work at):

- the surgeries ordered their flu vaccines back in January, based on estimates of who would be on the next (i.e. 2020-21) winter's flu list.

- subsequently the gov't have declared that even more people should try and have the flu jab (over 50s, people in the same household as someone who's at high risk of Covid complications, etc).

- instructions to GPs are to prioritise the usual flu list patients first, and once they've been done then move on to the new "extra" lists.

- the flu jabs (which were ordered in January, remember) arrive in dribs and drabs. When a batch of jabs arrives, the surgery books patients in for their jab.  If you book patients in before the jabs have physically arrived, you risk having to cancel a flu clinic or turn people away because there aren't enough jabs available (yes, this has happened).

- we haven't yet been told where the jabs for the extra patients will come from, or when they will arrive, but we've been told to move on to the extra groups from November at the earliest.

Lots of information here  https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/annual-flu-programme#2020-to-2021...

Maybe your dad knows best ?

Quote: The infection rate in adults drops from 2% per year to 1%. You could say that’s halved, but it effectively only drops by 1%. So this means that out of every 100 healthy adults vaccinated, 99 get no benefit against laboratory confirmed influenza.

https://theconversation.com/the-flu-vaccine-is-being-oversold-its-not-that-...

Yes, got it on the NHS

Thanks for this - I am indeed well aware of that other news and have significantly adjusted my lifestyle to accomodate it. However one of the pieces of advice we are given is to get the regular flu jab to prevent that adding to the stress on the NHS and I can't get one through the national programme. Our local pharmacy offer it but just can't get supplies. I would have thought that as the impact of the new flu became apparent in March that production of this year's routine vaccine would be ramped up.

But if that 1% is vulnerable to the severe signs, that vaccine might be life-saving and if that 1% (even if not vulnerable) is in contact with many vulnerable people that might have a profound cascading effect. 

Also if no one was vaccinated, flu would be more widespread in the community making your figures obsolete.

Quote: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/index.html

Out of the huge proportion of life insurance policies issued each year, a minuscule proportion will end up in a claim. So what's the point in people taking out life insurance?

Your linked article, while apparently not being factually incorrect, employs statistics presented so as to be deliberately misleading.

WHO has kidnapped influenza this year.  Hopefully it remains in captivity until next summer and so they can lock-up for SARS-COV-2.  The world has enough to deal with without further competition. 

My mum is 65+ in Scotland and her drive through flu vaccine clinic got canned last minute,  her GP said tough you'll have to wait for the next clinic, she has asthma,  she should be top priority.  She now has to wait till December for attempt 2 assuming that clinic even goes ahead.

Meanwhile I go to a pharmacy in the same city pay my money and get vaccinated. Mate over 65 same issue, same surname initial as my mum... basically if you want a flu vaccine in Scotland pay for it yourself if you can or find a pharmacy with vaccine in stock or you'll be lucky if you get it in 2020. Utter shambles, my mum and all the other 65+ folks should be much higher priority than me but at least I won't infect her!