With flu season rapidly approaching, local healthcare professionals advise people to get vaccinated. According to the World Health Organisation, the yearly flu epidemic has resulted in three to five million cases of severe illness and up to 650 000 respiratory deaths worldwide.
These figures emphasise the seriousness and impact of the influenza virus on public health.
General Manager of Health Policy and Clinical Advisory at the AfroCentric Group, Dr Ayanda Mbuli, says the annual vaccination protects infants, the elderly and individuals with pre-existing conditions or weak immune systems.
“With the flu vaccine. I think what people don’t know is that from the time you vaccinate, it takes about two to three weeks for you to be immunised for the vaccine to start working, so that is the reason that we actually advise people that before the winter season starts to get vaccinated. So, people generally think at times that I have got vaccinated and the vaccine made me sick. That’s not the case because the vaccine is inactive, and it doesn’t make you sick.”
PODCAST | Local healthcare experts advise South Africans to get their flu vaccination shots as soon as possible:
