Bedfordshire residents are encouraged to get 'winter ready' with flu and Covid jabs - plus new RSV vaccination
It’s that time of year again when those most at risk of getting seriously ill from flu and Covid should sign up for their free vaccinations – to protect not only themselves but also those around them.
Anyone eligible can book at a pharmacy via the NHS website, downloading the NHS App, or by calling 119 for free if they can’t get online.
For the first time, the NHS is also offering vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common cause of coughs and colds that can be dangerous to older people and young children.
The jab, introduced earlier this month, is available to those aged 75 to 79 and is being offered to pregnant women from 28 weeks to protect their child.
Parents and carers of two- and three-year-olds are also urged to book their children in for a flu vaccine in the form of a nasal spray. Parents concerned about the pork content in the spray can choose the flu injection as an alternative.
Both flu and Covid-19 vaccines will be available at the same time for those who are eligible.
It is more effective to have the RSV jab on a different day.
Those eligible for both vaccinations include adults aged 65 and over, anyone aged 18 to 65 in a clinical risk group, care home residents and staff, those receiving a carer’s allowance or who are the main carer for an elderly or disabled person, frontline health and care workers and anyone in close contact with someone who is immuno-compromised.
Also included are those working for a registered residential care or nursing home, registered live-in care providers and voluntary managed hospice providers.
Those eligible for the autumn Covid-19 booster are adults aged 65 and over, senior care home residents and staff, those aged between six months and 64 in a clinical risk group and frontline NHS and care workers.
Central Bedfordshire Council’s executive member for adult social care and health, Mark Smith, urged residents to have the jabs and said: “The flu and COVID-19 vaccines can be lifesaving and are the best defences against these viruses – and it takes just a few minutes to book.”