It wasn’t a fluke it was a judgement call which was clearly explained at the time

Tbh I don’t think that call made much of a difference to the general public in reality, by June a huge wedge of the population had given up listening to experts.

Booked my Covid booster on Sunday evening online. Saw something on Twitter that said officially the appointments were only opening up on Monday morning but you could actually use it from the weekend. December 16th which will be 184 days since my second jab.

Actually think I’ve been fairly lucky, I know people older than me who’ve only very recently had their second jab so maybe things around here are a bit ahead of the curve.

Had my flu jab a couple of weeks ago – we get that free via work. Normally it’s a nurse coming into the offices but as we’re still WFH, they just gave out vouchers to use in Boots. Massive rigmarole booking it, the centre then couldn’t find any record of the voucher code but in the end they did the shot free of charge.

I’ve had my flu jab last 2 years as I now get it free from work and it seemed a wise thing to do, both for the country and because with 3 young kids if the wife or I are ill it’s a real struggle to get by! I’ve had no reaction either time though, so all very easy.

That’s me covid boostered and flu jabbed after an email at work to go around to the local centre for walk-ins 🙂

NI back to ‘wfh where possible’

This is worth a read, especially considering the attitude to vaccines being espoused on another, now closed, thread.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/23/covid-patients-in-icu-now-almost-all-unvaccinated-says-oxford-scientist

I came across this little graphic the other day as well, which resulted in a wry smile…

People who have never experienced flu will not realise what its like until it hits them, wham out for a few days, weak as a kitten for another week and still feel wobberly in week 3. It’s well worth having the jab. People that say they have a ‘touch of flu’ have no idea.

Had my booster today arm a tad sore but not as bad as the other arm which is aching from an old injury. A bit relieved and feel grateful, as in other countries (eg Switzerland where relatives live its aged 65 plus who can have a booster and many haven’t been able to get even a second vaccination).

CountZero that’s a sober poster and should be everywhere.

My booster/flu combo is booked for 29th Nov

@Nobeerinthefridge

“I started taking a flu jag about 10 years ago”

Humble brag? I just walked.😉 (All the formatting options have disappeared,how odd?)

Been having my flu jab every year for a fair while now, used to pay for it but when listed formally as a carer got it free. My son and his partner get it every year too as they know the danger it poses to his nan and his partners nan too.

Had my booster a few weeks back with no ill effects. I’m really lucky with jabs as I never seems to get side effects with them. Even odd stuff like hepatitis and rabies etc.

That said, even if I did feel a bit peaky afterwards, I’d still have the flu/ Covid jab etc.

People that say they have a ‘touch of flu’ have no idea.

what about people who’ve had a touch of covid?

I’ve never bought this idea that there is one experience of having flu and that’s it. I find it amusing when people try to out-flu each other…

I’ve never bought this idea that there is one experience of having flu and that’s it. I find it amusing when people try to out-flu each other…

That thing about the test for flue being whether you can get out of bed to get a £20 note off the doorstep is real. If you have flu, you won’t want or be able to. Anything less than this a bad cold, however unpleasant it may be.

I just googled it. Turns out asymptomatic influenza is a thing.

I’ll take that £20 thanks…

 I find it amusing when people try to out-flu each other…

My wood burner is bigger than yours?

Igmc.

But now it’s not just about flu being potentially very unpleasant, is it?

With the global covid-19 pandemic the thought of catching both covid and the flu at the same time sounds particularly unappealing.

So getting the flu jab makes even more sense in 2021.

^^I agree Ernie, Covid plus flu at the same time is as terrifying as it sounds I would think.

Back to Covid, I’ve just watched a report on the ambulance service.

Utterly catastrophic because they can’t drop off patients as the hospitals are full. Crews waiting outside hospitals for upto 10 hours as they can’t drop off the patients.

I’m appalled that some are still not getting their Covid jab. The selfishness is stunning.

The thought of an underfunded and struggling NHS brought to is knees by 21+ months of covid, trying it very best to cope with a winter flu surge sounds scary. Get a jab, don’t get flu, don’t pass it on. that was my thought.

Need book my flu jab, been away from home loads with family issues so missed gp so will book through boots when back – had through work or gp for years as asthmatic. Worth it to avoid pressure on NHS at moment.
Father in law died last Tuesday, got covid in hospital, brother in law (unvaccinated) couldn’t go funeral as tested positive, currently his fiance (unvaccinated) in ED with significant symptoms – its a shit show, and NHS in Norn Ireland a bag of shit doesn’t help.
Fun times, get your bloody vaccine people.

Irony: all those people who say “Oh covid’s just like the flu” are pretty much never talking about the actual flu, so they’re not just stupidly comparing covid to flu, they’re even more stupidly comparing it to a cold.

northshoreniall – that’s shit; take card of yourself.

As for ‘flu loads of people say they’ve had it but few have; there’s a massive difference between (severe) cold and proper ‘flu.

Had covid booster on Sunday; first two doses were AZ, booster was Pfizer.
No side-effects from first two but booster…that was different; never had side effects from meds or injections until this time.

That thing about the test for flue being whether you can get out of bed to get a £20 note off the doorstep is real. If you have flu, you won’t want or be able to. Anything less than this a bad cold, however unpleasant it may be.

Sounds about right. I’ve had flu – once. It was all I could do to walk from the bedroom to the kitchen for tea & toast for a week & that felt like a death march each time. Lost 2 kg that wk. I can’t recommend it as a form of weight loss..

As for ‘flu loads of people say they’ve had it but few have; there’s a massive difference between (severe) cold and proper ‘flu.

But how do we know, there is little or no testing for flu. A spectrum of flu responses from asymptomatic to severe seems entirely credible … and a quick google seems to back that up.

Flu’s not flu unless you die of it, FACT! anything else is just a sniffle.

I’ve had flu – once. It was all I could do to walk from the bedroom to the kitchen for tea & toast for a week & that felt like a death march each time. Lost 2 kg that wk. I can’t recommend it as a form of weight loss.

Had it in my early 20s when I was very fit. Same as above. Could only live on lucozade for 3 weeks.

cough, sniffle, cough, snotting, blow nose is not flu; see mrlebowski’s post ^^^
dr google is not an approved source for medical diagnoses.

Influenza (flu) can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. Flu is different from a cold. Flu usually comes on suddenly. People who have flu often feel some or all of these symptoms:

fever* or feeling feverish/chills
cough
sore throat
runny or stuffy nose
muscle or body aches
headaches
fatigue (tiredness)
some people may have vomiting and diarrhea, though this is more common in children than adults.

*It’s important to note that not everyone with flu will have a fever.

Bit of a milestone to report: Mum is coming out to Australia (NSW) to visit her grandkids for the first time in 2 years – flight is booked for 5th Dec.

Our international borders are shut to anyone except citizens/permanent residents and their “close families” – the definition of which has recently been expanded to include parents.

So she has her visa, she has her travel exemption, just one more form to fill-in 72 hours before flying for the Australian authorities and a negative PCR test, and she’s good to go! There’s also a bunch more hoops, including PCR testing when she gets here, and LFTs when she gets back to the UK, but that’s all manageable. Also, not sure how flying for that long wearing a mask will be, but after a few G&Ts she’ll probably be asleep for most of the way anyway.

Sadly she’s missing Batfink Jnrs 3rd birthday by a week – but at least she’ll be here for Christmas. Happy days.

@Poopscoop it’s a jag in Scotland as it should be, a jab is a punch.

Over the years, there’s been plenty of times I’ve caught a bug and thought it was flu, but nothing comes close to what I went through recently for ~4 weeks in terms of leg/knee pain; leg weakness; general fatigue. Ironically, I have my first ever flu jab booked for tomorrow, if I don’t get a phonecall like last year telling me the day before that they’ve ran out of stock.

Hoping I’ll hear from my GP surgery soon for my Covid booster, albeit I’m dreading the side effects after what I went through in April and June, with a bit of luck the switch to Pfizer/Moderna from the OxAZ might help… I’ll get a hint this weekend, as my mum had similar OxAZ side effects and she has her booster this Friday.

Congrats @batfink that will be exciting for the kids
(Grandma Reeksy is staying on Skype for a while yet).

We stood up a big booster clinic in the foyer of our largest hospital this week. It’s super impressive. Open access to any staff needing a top up jab (that have 6 months off the back).

@Nobeerinthefridge – So a fully vaccinated person should be called a Prescott, presumably?

Great news batfink.

Had no real side effects from my first 2 AZ jabs, apart from feeling (a bit more) tired and lethargic than usual.

Had the Moderna booster last week, no lethargy this time, managed a 60 mile ride the day after, hit gave had a lovely rash on my arm this week around the injection site. According to the leaflet it’s a 1 in 10 side effect, so no worries here.

Quick question re boosters, for my first and 2nd jab I received a text from the local GP office offering bookings locally. Will I get the same for the booster? Or should I go through the online NHS system to book a slot? My preference would be the former as it wouldn’t involving traveling to another town for the injection but I don’t want to be waiting in vain…

For context, late 40’s and my surgery is nigh on impossibe to contact for questions like this.

Finally, is there something wrong with the world when STW is the best source of reliable info available in a pandemic?

Batfink – great news!

Harry – the GP booking system , and online are totally separate. There is nothing to stop you booking your booster online, and if the GP one pops up, taking that instead.

everyone thinks their version of flu was worse than everyone elses, and it you didnt have it as bad as them then you didn’t really have flu at all.

if we didn’t have widespread and easy access to testing, then i’m sure we’d be seeing exactly the same attitude to covid-19.

‘if you could get up off your ventilator and pick up that £20 note then you didn’t really have covid…’

Quick question re boosters, for my first and 2nd jab I received a text from the local GP office offering bookings locally. Will I get the same for the booster? Or should I go through the online NHS system to book a slot? My preference would be the former as it wouldn’t involving traveling to another town for the injection but I don’t want to be waiting in vain…

For context, late 40’s and my surgery is nigh on impossibe to contact for questions like this.

Finally, is there something wrong with the world when STW is the best source of reliable info available in a pandemic?

i had my first two at the local GP, booked booster via NHS site. got offered sites all over the place and none of the big centres. Having it at a small pharmacy in plymouth. if the GP offer it to me before the 22nd dec then i’ll get it there instead.

I’ve never had flu, thankfully!.

‘if you couldn’t get up off your ventilator and pick up that £20 note then you didn’t really have covid…’

It was a fiver when I was a kid.

I reckon proper full-on covid in 2021 requires the £50 note test.

dammit, someone quoted my typo before I changed it…

most of the people I know who’ve had full-blown covid went dark on social media for a week or two.

maybe the test should be if you can you pick your phone up and update your status you don’t really have covid.

cough, sniffle, cough, snotting, blow nose is not flu; see mrlebowski’s post ^^^
dr google is not an approved source for medical diagnoses.

Influenza (flu) can cause mild to severe illness

@frankconway not diagnosis, but a quick consult with ‘dr google’ will find you articles such as the below on respected sites (which seems to suggest 1 in 3 asymptomatic for flu)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2646474/

Anyway, it matters not. Plus I see you agree that influenza cam cause mild illness in any case

Anyway, it matters not. Plus I see you agree that influenza cam cause mild illness in any case

maybe we should be testing and isolating for flu. it kills quite a lot of people….

maybe we should be testing and isolating for flu. it kills quite a lot of people….

Or, like many Asian countries, wear face coverings out of courtesy in public places during flu season.