We will shortly be starting our COVID and Flu vaccination programme for Autumn 2024. This year the COVID eligibility cohorts are as follows:
- All adults aged 65 years and over
- Persons aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group
The Flu eligibility cohorts are as above but also include the following cohorts:
- pregnant women
- all children aged 2 or 3 years on 31 August 2024
- carers in receipt of carer’s allowance, or those who are the main carer of an elderly or disabled person
- close contacts of immunocompromised individuals
- frontline health care workers
Once again we will be holding our COVID Booster clinics at Swallowfield Parish Hall. We are expecting to start at the beginning of October and we will shortly start to invite patients vis text message – these will be done in batches so please wait for your invite.
RSV (respiratory syncytial virus)
We will shortly be starting a campaign to vaccinate those eligible with a single dose of the RSV vaccine. This will be everyone turning 75 years old on or after the 1 August 2024, up to and including 31 July 2025. For the first year of the programme, the vaccine will also be offered to those who are already aged 75 to 79 years on 1 August 2024.
RSV is an infectious disease of the airways and lungs. RSV infection often causes symptoms similar to a cold, including:
- cough
- sore throat
- sneezing
- a runny or blocked nose
It can also make you become wheezy or short of breath and lead to pneumonia and other life-threatening conditions.
We will shortly be inviting all those eligible by text message.
Further information about RSV can be found here – Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – NHS (www.nhs.uk).