NHS Rotherham offers free flu jabs

The jab is being offered free to all pregnant women as well as everyone aged over 65 and younger people with long-term conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma, multiple sclerosis, serious kidney, neurological and liver disease.

Patients and carers can get the jab from their family doctor or local pharmacy if they are participating in the flu vaccination programme.

The main carers of older or disabled people may also be eligible for the  vaccine. They should ask their GPs or practice nurses for advice.

NHS Rotherham say that, because the flu virus can change itself, the jab only protects against the particular strains that are around at the time, so even if you have had a jab in previous years, you need another one this year.

Dr John Radford, director of public health at NHS Rotherham, said

the best way to avoid flu was to be immunised, but people could protect themselves by practising good respiratory and hand hygiene,  following the “catch it, bin it, kill it” principle.

This means carrying tissues, covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue, disposing of the tissue after one use, and cleaning hands as soon as possible with soap and water or a hand sanitiser such as alcohol hand rub. Health and social care workers in Rotherham are being encouraged to have the flu vaccine.

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Every year, there are approximately 8,000 seasonal flu-related deaths in the winter months in England and Wales.