Newsletter: Vaccine Special 

Recently, there has been a lot of coverage in the media about vaccines.

This is understandable after the recent Covid pandemic and the success of the vaccination programme that followed. Vaccinations are important. Since vaccines were introduced in the UK, diseases like smallpox, polio and tetanus that used to kill/disable millions of people, have either gone or are now rarely seen.

This autumn several vaccines are available to help protect against common and serious illnesses. The information below provides a breakdown of the 6 different vaccine that you may encounter.

Flu (influenza) vaccine

On average over the last 5 years 14,500 excess deaths were associated with influenza in England. The vaccine reduces the risk of flu considerably and therefore the risk of death. Contrary to popular belief it does not cause flu when you receive the vaccine and the mainside effects for some are short-lived body ache and some pain at injection site.

Eligible patients

• Those over 65’s
• Those under 65 who have certain medical conditions

Covid-19 vaccine

This disease is still responsible for over 10,000 deaths in England over the last 12 months - driven mainly by the number of deaths during the pandemic. The Covid-19 vaccine hugely reduces the risk of serious illness and death.

The eligibility of who can have it this year has changed but remains similar to flu

Eligible patients

• Those over 65’s
• Under 65 who have certain medical conditions

RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus) vaccine

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the common viruses that cause coughs and colds inwinter. RSV causes mild symptoms in most people, but can be serious for some infants, older adults and people with chronic medical conditions. Over 30,000 under 5’s are admitted to hospital each year because of it and unfortunately around 30 infants die because of it. Over 9000 over 75’s are also admitted to hospital because of it with 4000 patients dying from the disease. The vaccine has been introduced this year and is targeted at the most vulnerable groups.

Eligible groups are

• Pregnant women over 28 weeks to help protect their newborn babies
• Those turning 75 each year
• One-off campaign for people aged 75 to 79 as a catch up

Pneumonia vaccine

We have been administering the pneumonia vaccine since 1992 and for a long time it was the only vaccine we gave alongside the flu jab. It is now part of the child vaccine schedule and is recommended as a one-off injection once you turn 65. In addition, those with certain medica lconditions are advised to have it. Eligible patients will be offered this vaccination at the vaccine clinics in the autumn, or you will be invited in to attend one of the clinics.

Eligible groups are

• Part of child schedule
• Those turning 65 years old and anyone older than 65 who has not received it
• Those less than 65 who have certain medical conditions

Shingles vaccine

Shingles can be very painful and tends to affect people more commonly as they get older. This can be because your immune system is weakened by increasing age, by stress or by a range of medical conditions and treatments.

For some, the pain caused by shingles can last for many years. Shingles on the body can cause severe pain. If shingles develops in the eye and eyelid, it can lead to decreased vision or even permanent blindness in that eye. Shingles can really affect your life, stopping you from doing all the things you usually enjoy. It is a 2-vaccine course given 6 months apart. So far since the program began there were 40,500 fewer GP consultations for shingles related disease and 1,840 fewer hospitalisations.

Eligible groups are

• Healthy people aged 70 to 79 years who have not yet been vaccinated
• People aged 50 years and over with a severely weakened immune system
• Healthy people aged 60 to 70 years will become eligible for the vaccine over thenext 5 years, when they turn 65 or 70 years

You will remain eligible for the shingles vaccine until your 80th birthday, unless you have aweakened immune system; people with a severely weakened immune system remain eligible for vaccine. The sooner you have the vaccine, the earlier you will be protected.

Pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine

There have been several outbreaks of Whooping Cough over recent years which has unfortunately led to the death of 9 infants between January and June 2024. The outbreaks arepartly due to a fall in vaccine coverage which has allowed the disease to spread. This is a vaccine given as part of the routine child vaccine program with a booster in the teenage years. Importantly it is strongly advised that pregnant ladies get it during the later part of their pregnancy to protect their newborn baby.

Eligible patients

• Pregnant ladies attending the vaccine clinic or who may have missed their vaccine will be invited up or you can book an appointmen

Summary

You can see there are several vaccines to be given. The common theme amongst these vaccines is they very much reduce the risks from the disease the vaccine is designed to protect you from. In all cases they reduce the risk of serious illness and death. Many patients will be eligible for 2 or more vaccines. It is safe to have more than one vaccine during your appointment and the risk of side effects is not increased overall. The exception to this is RSV and whooping cough vaccine in pregnant ladies where 2 weeks apart is recommended. We appreciate you may wish to have some of them separately and so we will offer you another appointment to have further vaccine if you wish.

If you have a query about whether you have had a particular vaccine or are eligible then please contact us

Our main vaccine clinics this autumn will be held on Friday 11th October and Saturday 12th October where the focus will be on Covid and Flu vaccines. When you get your invite, please book in with us. If you cannot book those dates, then please ring the practice and our Care Navigation team will be able to provide you with an alternative date.

We strongly urge you to have your vaccinations with us. The practice has knowledge of whichother vaccines you require and will administer them at the same time. This is very important to protect against other disease. The practice relies on the income generated from the flu program to fund our staff in particularly our additional nurse appointments we offer. Without this income we will have to reduce some of our services. Please support the surgery by doing this.

Published: Aug 20, 2024