Mel Stride MP has thanked local GP surgeries for their hard work and dedication in achieving some of the highest ever vaccination rates for flu. Despite the complexities of rolling out the largest national NHS flu immunisation programme during a COVID-19 winter, NHS staff have vaccinated a record 80.3% of those aged 65 years and over in England against flu so far this winter. This is the highest uptake ever achieved for this group. Uptake in 2 and 3-year-old children is also the highest ever recorded and an estimated 2,521,000 children were vaccinated through the school-aged programme - 480,000 more children than at the same time last season.
Mr Stride, who visited Bow Medical Centre near Crediton in October to specifically promote flu jabs this winter, said:
“It was essential that we didn’t compound an extremely difficult winter for the NHS due to the Covid-19 pandemic with a winter flu crisis. I am grateful to our GP surgeries for their outstanding efforts, to our schools for helping to increase the uptake in children and crucially to all the patients who listened to the advice, went and got their job, despite perhaps having not been out for a while.”
Research from Public Health England suggested that people who tested positive for both flu and Covid-19 were more than twice as likely to die compared to those with Covid-19 alone, leading to the Government launching the largest ever flu drive campaign.
Photo: Mel visiting Bow Medical Centre in October to promote the jabs.
