Flu Vaccinations Surrey: Many at Risk Due to Falling Vaccination Rates

With winter on the horizon, there’s never been a better time to book your flu vaccinations at your local Surrey practice, SurreyGP. After all, it is fast approaching the Christmas season and all that comes with it, such as admitting defeat and turning the heating up, wishing for snow but having to settle for rain, and, of course, the dreaded flu! For many of us, a bout of influenza is an inevitable and relatively harmless – but still incredibly inconvenient – winter illness, but for those in the ‘at risk’ groups, what may start as a sniffly nose can have disastrous (or even fatal) consequences if they haven’t received their seasonal flu vaccine.

Indeed, healthcare professionals up and down the country are expressing concern at the fall in numbers of those electing to receive a flu jab this year – according to the BBC, GP surgeries are seeing a 6% decrease in patients wishing to receive this important vaccine compared to last year.

Practices believe that the current warm weather has lulled many into a false sense of security, as well as negative perceptions of the vaccine’s effectiveness; the 2014 flu immunisation was initially thought to be something of a failure due to how fast the virus mutated last year, although figures eventually proved that the vaccine was still effective around a third of the time.

It must be stressed that those in the ‘at risk’ groups, i.e. the elderly, pregnant, and those with other medical conditions (for example, asthma) would benefit from receiving a flu vaccination, which can easily be performed at the SurreyGP Surgery at a time convenient to you! Additionally, while it is vitally important for these specific at risk groups in particular, no one wants flu to disrupt what is always a hectic season – which is why we offer the vaccination to ALL adults and children (aged 6 months and up) as well.

Here at SurreyGP, we wish everyone the best of health this season, and hope to see qualifying patients soon for their influenza vaccines! To book your flu vaccinations Surrey for a time that suits you, contact us on 01483 230481 or 0845 4599972 – a member of our team will always answer the phone, and will be happy to help. If you would prefer, you can also book an appointment online here.