The Premium Debate: Woman off work sick since May urges others to get up to date with flu shots

Opinion

A Rotorua woman lost 2.5 kilograms in seven days while battling a nasty flu infection that left her coughing up “cups of thick, green slime” for weeks.

She decided not to get the flu vaccine this year - she says it is a decision she “absolutely regrets” and is urging others to get the jab.

Her plea comes as hospitals, GPs and pharmacies throughout the Bay of Plenty say a growing number of patients are turning up with influenza, Covid-19 and other winter viruses.

Read the full story: ‘Financially devastating’: Woman off work since May, flu left her struggling to breathe.

Have your say by going to bayofplentytimes.co.nz or dailypost.co.nz and becoming a Premium subscriber.

When I was trying to organize my flu shot, the med practice was so down on doctors, nurses and both receptionists due to crook children, holidays being taken and illness that they asked me to go to a chemist shop anywhere and get it done there.

I went to the pharmacy for a look and there were eight people milling around while the chemist assistant triaged them for ear problems‚ cough problems, Covid and flu jabs. There was one seat. I thought if I wasn’t crook now, standing in close contact in an airless, hot part of the shop with people who were already crook, I soon would be.

I went back to the doctor and waited and got the flu anyway. All of June, still hacking now.

Roy H

We’ve got friends with similar stories - they will never miss their flu jabs again. Regardless of whether you have underlying conditions, the flu is a very serious illness... that can be avoided.

Craig E

The trouble with flu vaccines is that the flu mutates regularly and they are only guessing what strain will be the trend. A friend of mine got the flu vaccine last year and still got the flu.

Geoff B

It is time our health authorities dropped the ‘free entitlement for the chosen few’ clause and moved towards making vaccines available to anyone who wants to be vaccinated.

Would be interesting to know if this patient met the criteria for ‘free’ flu vaccination.

Keith T

I was in Ontario, Canada when it was hit by Sars in 2003. They then made flu vaccines free for everyone. Drop-in vaccination clinics were set up in shopping malls, pharmacies etc. This has continued. I think it is a very good idea, and it helps take some strain off the hospital system, especially when [medical staff are] also dealing with other seasonal and novel infectious diseases. I myself came down with Influenza A some years ago. It led to an RSV infection and pneumonia. I’m very pro-vaccination.

Kay M

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