Dear NHS Marketing Reference Group members,
The latest healthcare worker flu vaccination figures were published yesterday (Thursday 17/12/15) and unfortunately they are down 4% on this time last year, please can you use the copy below to promote the vaccination through your owned channels to staff and via your local comms networks.
Please also look out for our tweets on @PHE_UK and RT wherever possible.
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More healthcare professionals urged to take up flu vaccine
Vaccine well-matched to the dominant A(H1N1)pdm09 virus detected so far this season
Healthcare professionals are being urged to take up the flu vaccine before flu starts to circulate more widely this year, in order to help protect themselves and vulnerable patients this winter and help save lives, while keeping NHS services running as normal.
New figures published on Thursday 17 December show 44.1% of frontline healthcare workers had received their influenza vaccination as of November 30, 2015.
This means that over 422,000 frontline healthcare workers out of the 957,096 frontline healthcare workers in England have now received their flu vaccination, compared to 48.2% of workers who were vaccinated in the same period in 2014 to 2015.
Early virological surveillance from the UK and elsewhere in Europe shows that A(H1N1)pdm09 is now the main seasonal flu virus detected so far this season, and the virus is well-matched to the vaccine strain this flu season. Previous flu seasons dominated by A(H1N1)pdm09 have shown that this strain affects children, pregnant women, and adults with long term conditions like chronic heart disease, liver disease and respiratory disease in particular. Eligible patient groups, together with people aged 65 and over, are being urged to take up the free vaccination as part of the Stay Well this Winter campaign this year.
Hospital surveillance in 2014 to 2015 reported a total of 1,187 admissions to intensive care and high dependency units due to lab confirmed flu across England, and 8.4% of these resulted in death.
The NHS staff vaccination campaign flu fighter (@NHSflufighter, #flufighter) is once again providing a range of resources to help staff run lively local campaigns which promote vaccinations, answer questions and improve access to them.
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More healthcare professionals urged to take up flu vaccine
More healthcare professionals are urged to take up the flu vaccine as latest surveillance shows the vaccine is well matched to the dominant virus detected so far this season. The vaccine, together with good infection control practice, is crucial in order to help protect healthcare workers and vulnerable patients, while keeping NHS services running as normal. Latest figures show 44.1% of frontline healthcare workers had received their vaccine so far compared to 48.2% of workers who were vaccinated in the same period in 2014 to 2015. See here for further information and visit the flu fighter website to download campaign materials.