Fed up of hearing about the flu

[SpoonBaloon]

I know I’m being unreasonable but am I the only one who’s getting wound up by the constant coverage of the flu on every national news outlet?

It is December. Of course the flu is going around! Every winter we hear about the NHS being overwhelmed.

I can accept minor coverage but it’s been the main story for days on end and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop! And I know the flu kills and people need to be aware to take precautions but surely people don’t need it to be pointed out to them that they have an increased chance of catching the cold or flu in the run up to Christmas?

I was deathly ill with it last year but luckily have managed to avoid it up to now.

These are the general NHS UK guidelines - there is no caveat about regional variations. Carers are eligible if they care for an older or disabled person or receive carer's allowance. I had mine at a pharmacy and while they grilled me about the Covid jab I had originally been booked in for (and wouldn't give it to me as I no longer met the criteria) they gave me the flu jab readily.

• are aged 65 or over (including those who will be 65 by 31 March 2026)
• have certain long-term health conditions
• are pregnant
• live in a care home
• are the main carer for an older or disabled person, or receive a carer's allowance
• live with someone who has a weakened immune system

Oh well, if we aren’t ALL going to die…then so many things aren’t important …🤦‍♀️I’ll leave you to your relativism

Thank heaven for qualified people, experts and scientists …and sometimes a concerned public health strategy ♥️

But isn’t it given in all primary schools? It is here in Northern Ireland

Well you are a real cynic aren't you? I am sure the families and friends who were bereaved by Covid will disagree , but what do they know compared to you?

I never needed your permission to do anything. The topic is flu and media coverage

Some of it is to try and persuade the doctors not to strike, maybe if they keep saying how bad it is they think they will not strike.

it's not Covid, they are testing people in hospital and the vast majority come back as H3N2 subklade K. Why on earth would anyone want to pretend it was Covid when it is a strain of flu?

This is very true

And you are of no authority to me or anyone else on here. See how that works? And stop winding people up.

Considering my kids have only just had their vaccines at school this week and countless of their classmates have been off with flu already this season, I don’t understand why they’ve chosen to vaccinate so late in the year this year?

Not RTFT so if this has already been explained I apologise but I’m sure they’ve never been vaccinated this late!

Pharmaceuticals are obviously experiencing a lower amount of patronage compared to covid times so we're being reminded to get jabbed to be kind. Also, be kind to the NHS, they've been taken unaware by the flu.
As someone said of another lady in the gym behind her back this morning, "she's the reason why people get the flu." She's said she didn't believe in the flu jab. Jab away!

Exactly. Flu is highly problematic in a number of ways, not least because it can also present in some people as very mild, and others will be asymptomatic. Whether a person has a severe case or is on the other end of the spectrum and asymptomatic, the risk of passing the virus onto others remains, and the next person might not be so lucky with an asymptomatic case, even if the person who passed it to them was.

It is a bit of a lottery - none of us know how unwell we may become with flu, and we certainly can't know how ill we may inadvertently make someone else should we pass it on to them, and the chain continues - maybe they live with someone undergoing chemo. The consequences at the end of that chain could be truly diabolical.

What we do know is that whilst vaccines NEVER guarantee 100% protection from flu, those of us who are vaccinated will be less ill than we would have been had we not been vaccinated, and we are less likely to be hospitalised and die (or have a limb amputated). I wrote a lengthier post, I think it's on page 2, so I won't repeat more here, but it's there if it may be of interest. Incidentally, the same applies to the COVID-19 vaccinations.

Gosh, that's so original! Calling it The Daily Fail.

It’s not making me anxious because I WFH and had the vaccine weeks ago. I’ve got a weakened version of flu which is bad enough. I think people should be worried about elderly and immunocompromised people getting this strain of flu, though. 1 in 10 hospital beds contains a flu patient today and it hasn’t peaked yet.

Any other year the flu news would have passed me by. But my mum died in a hospice on Friday. She had caught flu (type A) and developed pneumonia. The hospital were going to move her when she was on end of life care to a normal ward due to needing to turn normal wards into flu wards and they needed to use the single rooms for none flu male patients. The rates of flu in females is massive and they had no room to allow my mum to die unless we moved her to a multiple occupancy ward. We were “lucky” that our local hospice had a bed for her. The cause of death on her certificate even says influenza A.

I love that OP has deliberately started a thread about the flu, and told us her experience of it, and then said that she's fed up hearing about it. Seems counterintuitive 🤣

It’s bloody everywhere around here. It’s gone through all the family, most of the classes in school. Kids haven’t had it too badly (had nasal spray in school a few weeks ago) but it’s pretty unpleasant. It’s all you can hear out and about and on Teams calls. It’s particularly noticeable this year

Bacterial surge?
Then the main reason for death wasn't flu, more likely pneumonia.
I've never been vaccinated, had something horrible, couldn't stand up as a PP pointed out - and in three weeks I was back to moderately heavy physical work.

I'm so sorry for your loss. X

'Most people' don't get it, no. Uptake of the flu vaccine is extremely low - some of the higher risk groups are only seeing around 30% uptake. Hence the media push.

And yes, it works as well as it's supposed to. Obviously it would work better if more people had it. Why do you think it doesn't work well?

Foredgyhare
sorry about your mum.
its so hard isn’t it.
Take care

Funny as I expect this was all Covid was and they made such a fu*king song and dance about it to terrify everyone! Oh and have admitted the vaccine doesn’t cover this strain… why would anyone have it then?!

They have literally said the vaccine doesn’t cover this strain…

I had to take my elderly mum to a hospital appointment today at a v busy, central London hospital. It’s a fairly regular appointment (we’ve been to this clinic 4-5 times in 2025). The route we walk takes us past the A&E entrance. It’s possible to see the ambulance off loading point as well.

I have never seen and heard so many ambulances arriving/ waiting to unload. Whatever is happening, it’s bad. Really bad.

I made sure that mum and I were wearing face masks, so many people were coughing and spluttering all over the place.

And then not bothered returning to the thread!