Scotland’s flu and Covid-19 Booster programmes are continuing at pace as people aged 60 to 69 and adults aged 16 and over with underlying health conditions in NHS Lothian start to receive invitations for their flu and COVID-19 booster vaccinations through the post.
Appointments for this group will take place at local community clinics across Lothian. While the first batch of appointment letters for this group have now been issued, the process for inviting individuals will continue throughout October and November. This will be based on clinical priority, but people should be assured that if they are eligible, they will be invited.
Alongside this group, NHS Lothian continues to vaccinate those who are aged 70 years and over, people in older adult care homes, those who are on the Highest Risk List and frontline health and social care workers.
In addition, NHS Lothian are delivering flu vaccinations to children under 2 years old who have underlying health conditions, preschool children aged 2-5, all school pupils, pregnant women and all NHS healthcare workers.
The winter flu and COVID-19 vaccination programmes are working together to reduce the risks for both types of illness. Wherever possible, those eligible for the booster jab (and who received their COVID 2nd dose six months prior) will receive both the flu vaccine and COVID-19 booster on the same day. This is safe and effective to do and will reduce the need to have two separate appointments.
So far in NHS Lothian we have administered more than 84,000 Covid-19 Boosters and over 137,000 Flu vaccinations.
For those in the underlying health conditions group – the type of health condition will guide whether they will be given a flu jab, the COVID-19 booster, or both vaccines.
Details on who is eligible for these vaccinations and when they can expect an invitation are available on NHS Inform.
Pat Wynne, Nurse Director of Primary and Community Care, NHS Lothian, said: “We are currently working through priority lists for those who are eligible for the COVID-19 Vaccine Booster and the flu vaccine and are making good progress. Appointments for both vaccines are being scheduled based on clinical need and age. Boosters will be offered to many of the groups who routinely have the flu vaccine to protect people from both illnesses. To support this, we are ensuring those most vulnerable are vaccinated first.
“Everyone who is eligible will be offered a vaccination. If you haven’t received your appointment letter yet, please be patient. You do not have to do anything now – you will be contacted, notifying you of your appointment.
“When offered vaccinations we would encourage people to take these up. Flu can be extremely serious and is very infectious. With COVID-19 still circulating in the community we can best protect those most at risk as well as easing pressures on NHS and social care services by encouraging everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated against flu and boost their immunity to coronavirus.”
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We remain on track with Scotland’s booster programme prioritising those at the highest risk for both COVID-19 and flu. We started this as soon as possible following the JCVI advice – that the booster dose should be offered no earlier than six months after completion of the primary vaccine course. It is important to note that many people in the original early priority cohorts of the initial vaccination programme had already had a 6-month gap prior to this JCVI advice.
“In addition to delivering the COVID-19 vaccine boosters, this year we are offering a record number of free flu vaccines to help protect the people of Scotland. It is the biggest ever flu vaccination programme in Scotland reaching over 4 million people.
“The flu virus changes every year, so you need to get the vaccine every year to stay protected. The vaccine cannot give you flu, but it can help stop you catching it, or suffering severe symptoms. The COVID-19 vaccine does not offer any protection from flu, you need to get the separate flu vaccine.”
