The influenza, or flu, vaccine is recommended each year for Australians older than six months.
Echuca Moama Family Medical Practice principal Claire Goodman said it was important everybody in the community be vaccinated for influenza wherever possible.
“It reduces their personal risk of illness as well as the burden to the rest of the community, because we all have to be tested for COVID-19 if we have respiratory symptoms, as well as reducing the burden on the hospital system,” Dr Goodman said.
With the COVID-19 vaccine rollout also underway, it’s important to remember there needs to be a two-week gap between having that and the flu vaccine.
“The government has recommended, if available, people get their initial dose of the COVID-19 vaccine first, particularly if they’re in the 1b group,” Dr Goodman said.
“The second dose is 12 weeks later so there’s plenty of time to get your flu vaccine in between.
“Given that the timeframe for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is that everybody should receive their first dose by the end of October, there will be a lot of the population who have their flu vaccination before the COVID-19 vaccine, and that’s fine too.”
There are four flu vaccines available, depending on the patient’s age, but they all work in a similar way.
“They all have inactivated virus or parts of inactivated flu virus – there is no live virus in the vaccine at all,” Dr Goodman said.
“They show the immune system part of the flu virus so it can make some fighting antibodies and have them ready to go, so if the patient comes into contact with the actual virus they can react very quickly and kill the virus.”
Dr Goodman said with any vaccination there was the possibility of some side effects because of the immune system appropriately reacting to the vaccine.
“The definitive answer is you cannot catch the flu from the flu vaccination,” she said.
“Less than 15 per cent of people will have some symptoms like a low-grade fever, a headache or some aches and pains for a day or two afterwards.
“It doesn’t occur for everyone and it’s not the flu.”
Getting the vaccine in autumn means the greatest immunity within the first six months covers the flu season through winter.
While the vaccine is an important part of protection from the flu, keeping up good hygiene practices over winter will also reduce the risk of picking up other germs.
“The silver lining of coronavirus is we are all now very good at infection control,” Dr Goodman said.
“Handwashing, not touching our faces, coughing into our elbow, not carrying a hanky but using a disposable tissue and washing our hands after using it.
“Most importantly is to stay at home.
“Don’t go to work if you have any sort of cough or cold-like symptoms, regardless of whether it’s influenza, coronavirus or another common cold-type virus.
“The people in your workplace don’t want to catch what you’ve got because then they will need time off work.
“We shouldn’t be soldiering on. We should be taking time off when we’ve got symptoms and recovering, to reduce the number of coughs and colds in the community.”
The flu vaccine is free for people over 65, under five, pregnant women and some other people with underlying health conditions.
For information contact your GP or pharmacy.
Campaspe Shire Council also offers flu vaccinations and more information will become available in time.
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