Flu season 2019 is underway, as cases of influenza start to develop annually in October. The season traditionally lasts for around five months, ending in March when the weather starts to warm up once again. During the colder seasons, some people have an increased risk of infection, which a flu jab can help prevent.
Who needs a flu jab?
The flu jab is an optional injection which can be taken each year during flu season.
The vaccination is made up of whichever strains are circulating during the season and injected into people who are in danger of complications from the flu.
Certain groups of people vulnerable to the effects of the flu and their carers will need the protections afforded by the annual jab.
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The following groups of people need a flu jab:
– People aged 65 or over
– Pregnant women
– Chronically ill people
– Those living in a long-stay residential care home
– Main carers of elderly or disabled people
– Frontline health and social care workers
Why should I get the flu jab?
For most people, the flu will at worst leave people bedridden for a month with a fever, sore throat and aching body.
However, the flu can cause severe complications in vulnerable people, including lifelong disability and death.
According to the American Centre for Disease Control (CDC), 79,400 people died from influenza in the 2017-2018 season.
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The flu also hospitalised nearly one million people (959,134), and a total of 48 million people contracted the flu overall.
Those worst affected by the flu during this season were the eldest of the population.
An estimated 68,448 of the 79,400 people who died from the flu were in the 65+ years old bracket.
A further 7,478 people who died were in the 50-64 age group.
The flu vaccine is highly effective at preventing flu-related hospital visits and reducing the effects of influenza as a whole.
A CDC study of the 2016-017 flu season found the flu jab prevented an estimated 85,000 flu-related hospitalisations.
Researchers also found the flu jab reduced the risk of medically attended illness caused by the H1N1 or B virus in people aged 65 or over by more than 60 percent on average.
For those who caught the flu but had the jab, symptoms of the flu were overall milder.
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