WA Country Health Service South West have used World Immunisation Week to encourage residents to get their annual flu vaccination.
Public health physician Dr Naru Pal said the best time to get a flu vaccine for most people is in May or June for maximum benefit.
“Flue activity most commonly peaks in the South West between August and September and flu vaccine protection may start to decline from three to four months following vaccination,” Dr Pal said.
“Last year, almost one in four of the 330 people diagnosed with influenza in the South West required hospitalisation.”
Dr Pal said flu is a highly contagious and potentially serious disease that mainly spreads by droplets produced when an infected person talks, coughs or sneezes.
“Droplets can also settle onto surfaces, such as computer desks, doorknobs and telephones and can then infect people when passed from the hands to the mouth or nose,” he said.
Free flu vaccines are available to people who are vulnerable to severe influenza.
This includes persons aged 65 years and over, pregnant women, Indigenous people from six months onwards, children from six months to less than five years of age and people aged six months and over with medical conditions such as severe asthma, lung or heart disease, low immunity or diabetes.
Dr Pal said it was safe for pregnant women to receive the flu vaccine and it can be given at any time during pregnancy.
“Influenza can be serious, not only for individuals and their families who contract it but also for the organisations they work for and the people they care for,” Dr Pal said.
The single best way to protect against the flu is to get vaccinated each year.
Minor side-effects of the vaccine may include soreness at the injection site or, less commonly mild flu-like symptoms. You can’t catch the flu from the vaccine as it does not contain any live virus.
For information on symptoms and simple steps to stop the spread of the flu visit healthywa.wa.gov.au.
