With flu season just around the corner, residents are being encouraged to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated.
Over the past 12 months hygiene and social distancing measures used to protect the country from COVID-19 have been effective in significantly reducing the amount of influenza cases.
Despite this, health professionals are urging residents to still get their flu vaccination this year and to not become complacent.
Cincotta Chemist Merrylands Pharmacist Trish Riley said getting vaccinated is important now more than ever.
“If you get the flu you’re fighting that and if you get COVID-19 on top of that it’s a much harder chance of recovery,” she said.
“It is important the community is aware that the COVID-19 vaccine will not cover them for the flu and vice-versa.”
Ms Riley said the two vaccines must be administered two weeks apart and reminded locals that if you got the flu jab last year, you do need a new one each year to ensure you’re protected.
Cincotta Chemist Merrylands Pharmacist Sev Ince said as health professionals they are concerned anti-vaccine messaging surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine will cross over to the flu vaccine.
“By getting immunisation we are protecting vulnerable members of our community,” she said.
“It’s really about educating our communities; there is a lot of reluctance because of the COVID-19 vaccine so we don’t want that to impact the stable flu vaccination.”
She said if people don’t get the flu jab, it could have dangerous consequences.
“If we’ve got our hospitals full with cases of influenza how could we cope with new COVID-19 outbreaks?” she said.
The team at Cincotta Chemist Merrylands have been hosting pop-up clinics, sponsored by Cumberland City Council, at Council-run services around the region.
Once finished, about 250 Council employees will have received their flu vaccines.
Flu can produce symptoms of fever, chills, cough, sore throat, tiredness and muscle aches, and sometimes vomiting and diarrhoea.
Severe cases of flu can result in breathing difficulty and pneumonia.
Symptoms generally appear between two to four days after exposure.
If you’re experiencing any symptoms, you should get tested for COVID-19 immediately and self-isolate until you receive a negative test result, as it can be hard to tell the difference between a common cold, the flu and COVID-19.
If you return a negative COVID-19 test, it’s still important to stay at home until your symptoms resolve.
More information about the flu shot is available from your GP or pharmacist.
Troy Dodds is Parra News' Managing Editor and Breaking News Reporter. He has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working with some of Australia’s leading media organisations. In 2023, he was named Editor of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.