Winter is approaching, and with it comes a seasonal increase in respiratory infections.
Flu and COVID-19 outbreaks can harm health, exacerbate health inequalities and, at their worst, damage the economy and people’s livelihoods.
Councils are a key partner to enable vaccines uptake, equipping our communities with immunity and protecting the most vulnerable among us.
Vaccines are a powerful tool to prevent, control the spread and reduce the severity of disease. They prevent millions of deaths worldwide every year.
The success of the UK’s COVID-19 vaccination programme has been down to effective local intelligence and implementation alongside national strategy and coordination.
Local directors of public health and their teams have been at the heart of activity to tackle the virus, with councils working closely with the NHS, voluntary, faith and community groups, to support the mass vaccination rollout that helped us towards living with COVID-19.
Working together again will allow us to build strong, broad immune defences for those at greatest risk of getting seriously ill this winter.
Recent UK Health Security Agency modelling shows last year’s flu vaccinations prevented around 25,000 hospitalisations in England.
Even with this success, the health impact of last year’s flu season remained severe, with deaths and hospitalisations from flu eclipsing those from COVID-19 at the peak of the 2022/23 season.
COVID-19 variants are also circulating, increasing the risk to pregnant women, older people and those in vulnerable groups of all ages especially at risk of getting seriously ill.
It is therefore important that as many eligible people as possible have their flu and COVID-19 vaccines in good time, to build up their protection. Those who do are more likely to have milder symptoms and recover faster, cutting their risk of being hospitalised and reducing pressure on the NHS.
Councils can help by using your networks and channels to make sure eligible cohorts are aware of the vaccine offer.
By working together, we can make sure people get their vaccines and are able to head into winter with the best protection.
- To see who is eligible for the flu and COVID-19 vaccination programme please visit: www.nhs.uk/wintervaccinations