Single mums should be offered a free flu jab?

Focus on becoming as healthy as you can. Lots of food with nutrients. Zinc and vit c and fluids can help speed up a cold. Take vit d in winter.

Have cold and flu remedies in the house. Dioralyte etc so you are prepared. You have a child who is going to regularly bring you back lovely illness most of which you can’t be vaccinated against.

Its not cost effective to give you a flu jab, it’s only the most vulnerable that get it ( there are more that should!) but it’s easy accessible from a pharmacy for around £10-£20. I know plenty people that do this.

Lupus is autoimmune so you should get a free jab at your surgery. However the flu jab doesn't protect you from a cold or prevent flu.

But why people on low incomes? It’s always the people with decent incomes that are made to feel punished or made to pay. If it was to go free with proof of benefits or low income look at the percentage of those that don’t work…. They are the ones (provided they’re not vulnerable) who can afford to stay home and be poorly

Good point, although it might rely on being on immune suppressants. I know when I came off them, I stopped being eligible despite still having an autoimmune condition. I usually buy one for myself as my children get them free at secondary school.

Probably because it's not tested for under 2, so unlicensed.

2 & 3 yr olds & primary age children are given it to stop it spreading as much and to reduce hospital admissions. The main cause of children being hospitalised is due to respiratory illnesses, their lungs aren't fully developed until 8 yrs old.

Pregnant women get it to prevent any further complications for mum & baby down the line.

The elderly and those that qualify due to an underlying vulnerability (eg asthma) get it as they are the ones most likely to suffer serious complications from flu.

There's no evidence to suggest that an otherwise healthy adult requires a flu jab, as others have said, it's a preventative measure to reduce the amount of people needed hospital admission.

Check with the gp I am guessing since you have lupus you would get a free flu jab?

My children have been offered it every year in primary and secondary school so it must be up to age 16 or something

Maybe not single parents specifically, but people on low incomes definitely (if this isn’t already a thing?)

OP unless you've been a single parent I think it's impossible for people to understand (certainly on Mumsnet) just how difficult it is when any of the wheels fall off the careful balancing act that is required just to survive. Cbeebies ffs 🙄

There's very little statutory support for single parents, empathy from the state is as lacking as it is on here. Rest up, it does get easier as they get older. Only thing I can say is prioritise your prevention (dual defence, zinc&VitC, good diet, keep warm etc etc)

Getting sick as a parent is par for the course. I remember my husband and I getting Norovirus when my daughter was 7 months old. Possibly the worst 48 hours in my life! You can't vaccinate against that, or hand foot and mouth, or strep, or all the other 6 million illnesses kids get.

Did you actually have flu or was it just a heavy cold? We have just had 2 weeks of 2 weird horrible illnesses back to back and it's been horrendous, but not flu. No flu vaccine would have prevented it.

It's not a convenience vaccination, it's to prevent severe complications of flu on vulnerable groups.

In my experience as a single mum this is not as easy as you'd think.

By the way, if you can recover from a cold in 2-3 days, that's not a heavy cold! Allow at least a week and a half for a full-blown HEAVY cold!

Old saying - 3 days coming, 3 days with you, 3 days going. GP surgeries get full of people every winter worried because they've had a cold for 4 days - well, that's par for the course.

Whatever you've had, hope you and your LO are feeling much better very soon.

Omg.

I know lots of people can afford that, my point was not all people can. I understand those aren’t massive costs to many of us, but people experiencing true poverty and hardship don’t have that sort of extra cash and arguably suffer most when unwell. People are feeding 2/3 people for a fiver a week so £10 for a jab would feel like a lot. Those are the people I think would benefit most. X

I notice that you frequently interchange flu and a cold, which are very different viruses.

I suspect from your description that you had a cold, so a flu jab wouldn't have prevented it. Also, it would only prevent the strain of flu that is suspected to be most prevalent that year, so not 100%.

I hope you and little one recover soon.

I know it's annoying when people say this, but you probably didn't have the flu. It sounds like a heavy cold. When I had flu I couldn't get out of bed for 2 weeks. It took all my effort just to go to the toilet. It took months to feel normal again. There's literally no way I could have taken care of a baby in that first 2 weeks.

The jab doesn't stop you catching colds, just the actual flu (and it wouldn't actually stop you catching it, but hopefully symptoms would be significantly milder).

You might want to think about what help/support you could line up for if you ever had a severe illness, unlikely though it is.

You haven’t got flu, you have a cold. It’s miserable and a couple of duvet days would be nice but having to plough on won’t kill you. Flu is debilitating and can be fatal in vulnerable people. A flu jab wouldn’t prevent you getting a cold. You will likely spend the next 5 years with every known germ circulating your system as your new superspreader joins nursery. If you found the cold hard wait until you get norivirus or the winter vomiting bug!! 🤢

But OP - did you have flu, or did you have a cold? The two are not synonymous, or on a spectrum, and a flu jab is completely ineffective against a cold.

This. And to reduce DEATH.

to the OP ‘the same can’t be said’ for the groups who currently receive on NHS as there’s high risk it will wipe out the rest of their lives, not just three weeks.

sorry you’re poorly. Put CBeebies on and snuggle under a blanket.

It's £16 at Tesco and apparently £10 at superdrug according to PP. Out of reach for some perhaps but not all.

Definitely not. Impractical, divisive and a little ridiculous.

I think the cost is likely prohibitive for many of those who might benefit most from having it.

D