Tuesday 1st October 2019
Flu vaccination is available every year on the NHS to help protect adults and children at risk of flu and its complications.
Flu can be unpleasant, but if you're otherwise healthy, it'll usually clear up on its own within a week.
But flu can be more severe in certain people, such as:
anyone aged 65 and over
children and adults with an underlying health condition (such as long-term heart or respiratory disease)
children and adults with weakened immune systems
Anyone in these risk groups is more likely to develop potentially serious complications of flu, such as pneumonia (a lung infection), so it's recommended that they have a flu vaccine every year to help protect them.
Who should get the flu vaccine?
The flu vaccine is routinely given on the NHS to:
adults 65 and over
people with certain medical conditions (including children in at-risk groups from 6 months of age)
children aged 2 and 3 on 31 August 2019
children in primary school
frontline health or social care workers