GP appointment bookings increased by 24% for flu as NHS call for parents to vaccinate ‘super spreader’ children
- Due to overbooking at the doctors jabs have been recommended to parents of children ‘super spreaders’ by NHS
- Greater Manchester GP agrees with initiative while issuing wanring to people with flu
GP appointments have increased by 24% in the last week according to Public Health England (PHE) with many patients complaining about the flu.
It is said that children branded as ‘super spreaders’ are the cause of this dramatic increase in appointments.
Warrington GP, Dr Ash Singh, has been practicing medicine for 18 years. He is currently at Stockton Heath Medical Centre and agrees with the NHS call for immunisation jabs.
He said: “Children are the super spreaders unfortunately because their immunity is a bit diminished and it goes to one child to the next child very quickly.
“If you immunise the kids as well as the adults it will reduce the spread resulting in the virus stopping and is not able to spread itself.”
The UK is experiencing a rise in flu this year a lot earlier than expected, with less than one third of two and three-year-olds having had their jab.
NHS national medical director, Stephen Powis, is urging the 25 million Britons available for the free immunisation vaccination to ‘get your jab now’.
The PHE winter campaign ‘Catch It, Bin It, Kill It’ is aiming to reduce the spread of flu with advice and Dr Ash Singh gives his own advice.
Dr Singh said: “People should keep themselves indoors when they have the flu because they book an appointment with the GP and they spread it further, making it worse for everyone else.
“When you cough or sneeze those droplets are spread to another person, they inhale it and that’s how they get the infection.”
Dr Singh reminded people that the vaccination does not cure flu and people still need to look after themselves.
“The vaccination will only protect you against the three or four most common viruses, whilst there are hundreds of others going around,” he said.