Flu Vaccine To Support Second Wave of Covid-19

This winter the number of people reporting flu-like symptoms is predicted to triple. Now, as the colder months are fast approaching, there is concern that the prospect of seasonal flu circulating alongside Covid-19 could potentially overwhelm the NHS, and the government is hoping to take measures to prevent this. 

Patrick Vallance, the UK’s Chief Scientific Adviser, commissioned an independent medical science research body, the Academy of Medical Sciences, to evaluate risk and devise potential solutions, which has resulted in the most extensive and comprehensive flu vaccination program in UK history. The government is now planning to vaccinate 30 million people to ease the pressure on the NHS.

“The key thing we identified was that there’s already a big backlog of work in the NHS as a result of Covid-19” said Anne Johnson, the Vice President International at the Academy of Medical Sciences, “so we have to make the NHS resilient to the pressures coming this winter, and one of the key elements of that was getting on top of the flu epidemic.”

In previous years, the NHS flu vaccines have only been available to people over 65 years of age, or people who have underlying health conditions, but this year will be different. From September onwards over 30 million people will be able to receive a free flu vaccination, including everybody over the age of 50.

This huge upscale of the flu vaccination program could be crucial in making sure that hospitals and intensive care units across the UK have sufficient capacity to cope with the rise of coronavirus cases we may see in the autumn and winter months.

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