The Rycote Practice is expected to receive its first flu vaccines in the first week of October after earlier, planned deliveries were delayed by transport shortages. We plan to run clinics on the afternoon of Saturday 9 October, the morning of Saturday 16 October and the afternoon of Tuesday 19 October. We will be prioritising patients over the age of 75 in this initial phase. Please do not contact the surgery at this stage if you are under 75 – we will contact you as soon as we have further supplies.
Anyone who had their second Covid vaccine more than six months ago is also eligible for a Covid booster to ensure that immunity remains high. This is expected to be the Pfizer vaccine in this area. We intend to give both the flu vaccine and Covid booster at the same time. This means that patients will again need to be observed for 15 minutes after their vaccination. All vaccination appointments must therefore be booked – it will not be possible to offer walk-in clinics this year.
There are good reasons for thinking about giving both jabs at the same time. It means only one trip to the surgery, reducing the time you need to spend in crowded spaces. It makes it easier to ensure everyone gets their vaccines and to ensure we have staff to do this. But most importantly, it means you have protection against both conditions as soon as possible. Any delay to giving you a vaccine by giving them on different days means your protection is delayed. There is a long and proven history of safely giving vaccines together. Every day our immune systems deal with dozens of different threats quite happily, and so giving 2 vaccines together is nothing our incredible bodies can’t handle. For many years we have been giving tiny babies 4 or 5 vaccines together, and we have lots of evidence that this is safe. Just to be sure about giving Covid and Flu vaccines together, specific studies have already been done this year to look at this. Scientists have checked not only whether it is safe, but also whether each jab works as well when they are given together. Those studies (undertaken in multiple countries with hundreds of volunteers) have shown that giving flu and Covid vaccines together is both safe AND effective.
As your local GP, we are confident that giving you both vaccinations at the same time will offer you excellent protection against both of these dangerous illnesses. Respiratory viruses including Covid and flu are expected to spread this autumn as social distancing is relaxed and more people meet inside. We would strongly encourage our patients to receive both a seasonal flu vaccination and a Covid booster as soon as they are eligible.
Thank you for your support and patience - we will be offering both vaccines to all eligible patients as soon as deliveries allow.
