Update on Covid providing information on prevalence and hospital admissions for England and its regions. This post is best viewed using the browser or Substack app.
Re ‘flu, a friend of ours has got a bad dose of it. She’s a dispenser and vaccinated against ‘flu, so I just wondered if there is any data (anecdotal or otherwise) about the efficacy of that vaccine.
Vaccine effectiveness for flu varies from year to year as the virus evolves. So it's important to get vaccinated each year.
Generally, the vaccines for the northern hemisphere are updated based on the prevalent flu variants from the southern hemisphere's winter season, and the reverse is true as well.
Early indications suggest that this year's flu vaccines are marginally less effective against hospitalisation compared to last year. This is based on the presumption that the variants observed in the southern hemisphere are the same ones circulating now, but actual effectiveness will only be confirmed later in the flu season.
The following link gives early information on the effectiveness against hospitalisation of this years flu vaccine based on an assessment from the US CDC,
Althought the NHS website no longer offers appointments for covid vaccination, they still have the 'find a walk-in' service which continues to 31 Jan 2025
Excellent report as usual – thank you!
Re ‘flu, a friend of ours has got a bad dose of it. She’s a dispenser and vaccinated against ‘flu, so I just wondered if there is any data (anecdotal or otherwise) about the efficacy of that vaccine.
Thanks for your comments.
Vaccine effectiveness for flu varies from year to year as the virus evolves. So it's important to get vaccinated each year.
Generally, the vaccines for the northern hemisphere are updated based on the prevalent flu variants from the southern hemisphere's winter season, and the reverse is true as well.
Early indications suggest that this year's flu vaccines are marginally less effective against hospitalisation compared to last year. This is based on the presumption that the variants observed in the southern hemisphere are the same ones circulating now, but actual effectiveness will only be confirmed later in the flu season.
The following link gives early information on the effectiveness against hospitalisation of this years flu vaccine based on an assessment from the US CDC,
https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/news/20241004/the-flu-vaccine-might-be-less-effective-this-year
The NHS website for finding a covid vaccination place now says the end date is 31 Jan 2025 instead of the Dec 20th date it used to display.
Also, I was told by a pharmacy that they have all been given the option of extending to 31st Jan.
However, other NHS webpages still say 20 Dec 2024.
Thanks for letting us know -- I'll check next week and update my messaging if that's still the case.
Althought the NHS website no longer offers appointments for covid vaccination, they still have the 'find a walk-in' service which continues to 31 Jan 2025
🙏
Thank you as always Bob. Stirling (sterling?) work! Here's hoping, for Covid at least, you'll continue to be able to report good news! 😊