Push for people in Wiltshire to get pre-winter vaccines
Many of us can get jabs for Flu, Covid and RSV
There's a push across Wiltshire for people to get vaccinated against Flu, Covid and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) this winter.
It's hoped that a pre-winter boost to immunity will help reduce the strain on the NHS during its busiest months.
From this week, millions of people across England can book a jab for the three illnesses to protect themselves over the winter.
Dr Michael Marsh from Salisbury is the Regional Medical Director for the NHS in the South West and told us vaccines protect us from illnesses that can be life-threatening:
"Though most the time most of us may get a mild illness, there are people amongst us who are vulnerable and really would benefit from the protection. And there is an element of even if you're relatively fit and healthy, some people just will get very sick with infections that might not be expected.
"So if you can have a vaccine, I would strongly recommend it," he said.
Dr Marsh told us incidents of Flu tend to peak during December and January, making vaccines from October onwards crucial to reducing the volume of patients admitted to hospital with the illness over the winter period.
He advises eligible young children, the elderly and women who are pregnant to ensure they get a Flu vaccine.
And while Covid is now a mild illness for many of us, Dr Marsh insists the vaccine is critical to saving lives.
He told us: "If you're under six months of age or if you're over 70, 75 and certainly over 80, you've got a high chance of becoming more sick.
"In those age groups, there are still significant numbers of people who die from COVID, so it remains a serious illness.
"That's why the vaccine is available and particularly targeted to the young and the old, and people who have long term conditions that make them more vulnerable of all age groups."
Parents of newborns are encouraged to have their child protected against RSV, which causes bronchiolitis.
Dr Marsh told us he's seen thousands of children admitted to hospital with the 'horrible' illness.
"It is a worrying illness in the under ones, and particularly in the first few weeks and months of life.
"Especially if you were premature, and especially if you have congenital heart disease or some other chronic lung problems. It causes epidemics every winter. It's the commonest cause of admission during winter time into children's hospitals."
By getting these vaccines, we'll be doing our bit to support the NHS through their most hectic months of December and January.
Dr Marsh said: "It's the time of the year when if you're really sick and everything's really busy, a combination of those is going to make it more difficult and more worrying for everybody involved.
"And as we know, the NHS has still got a lot of recovering to do from the effects of the pandemic. We still have huge backlogs of other things that need treatment and would really benefit from that happening.
"If the whole health system gets overwhelmed with acute infective illnesses through the winter, inevitably elective work gets slowed down or even stops completely."