They Seem To Be Earlier Every Year ...

[Baldric]

... Flu Jabs, just back from getting ours done, and I'm convinced that needle gets bigger every year as well.
All done now anyway

[jno]

late September's about right, isn't it? Sometimes they're delayed because they're still working on the vaccine (I think that was the case last year or maybe 2014) but I think this is pretty much the default time.

[Togo]

Yeah this weekend for us Baldric. Wait till you have the pneumonia jab, made me ill for days but it does last 10 years.

[Baldric]

Togo, thanks for that cheering news, I await the call with trepidation ;o(

[Togo]

Haha, the thing is you do not qualify until you are 70, or after an illness that your GP deems puts you at future risk of pneumonia, or if you are working in a job that puts you at risk, or it is a job of vital importance to the social fabric or administration. I think that you can pay to have it privately though.

[Baldric]

Yes, I've had the Flu Jab from age 58 'cause I had Major Surgery that year, think I'll keep quiet about other one as I'm generally not prone to these things

[Bazile]

Did the nurse have to give you a sweetie first , to coax you to have this 'big' needle ?

[ummmm]

How old do you have to be to be offered it?

I've never had the flu....

[Baldric]

Uuuum, 65 I think, I jumped the queue cos of the surgery.

[Baldric]

Baz, I would have refused for anything less than three!

[Baldric]

Yep, 65 it is

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/pages/who-should-have-flu-vaccine.aspx

[Bazile]

Baldric - you missed a trick - you should have insisted on having the whole packet :-)

[queenofmean]

Our surgery has Flu Clinic where you go get your injection - I can't go in October when they are having it - they are planning a second so I'm hoping to make that. But they were advising people of it at the start of the month.

[jno]

the local chemists have been doing it the last couple of years, no appointment required and no money.

[woofgang]

got mine today, I have to buy it because I am young and healthy :)

[Mamyalynne]

I can get it free at the surgery despite being under 65 with a bit of wheedling, but it costs me more to get there and back than to pay for it at ASDA Pharmacy.

[jno]

and the surgery won't sell you wine and crisps.

[Mamyalynne]

They won't no.

[EDDIE51]

Ummmm , you need to be very thankful that you have never had 'real flu' it is a terrible disease. Did you know that 'flu' after WW1 in 1918 killed more people, around 4 million, than died due to the entire war?
I sometimes work at the company that makes the 'flu ' vaccine 'Tamiflu' every year it has to be reconfigured to take in the new variants of flu that have been introduced. Flu virus mutates every few months to a new variant, some are more virulent than others but all need to be identified and added to the vaccine. Flu is by far the most deadly human disease with the highest death rate that has ever been identified.
Problem is most people think 'flu' is just another name for a feverish cold! but it is far more than that. I had it once, temperature of over 42 C delirious and unaware of where I was or what was happening for 2 days!

[wolf63]

I've had the flu once and it was horrendous, I had to put my dog into kennels for a week or so as there was no way that I could take him out.

I got a letter at the weekend advising me of a drop-in clinic on the eighth of October.