Health chiefs are urging people in Norfolk and Waveney to have a flu vaccine to help protect themselves and their families and ease pressure on the NHS this winter.
This winter the risks of both flu and COVID-19 outbreaks are high. This is because fewer people will have built up natural immunity to flu during the COVID-19 pandemic, and protective measures like social distancing and mask wearing have been lifted.
Immunosuppressed people in Norfolk and Waveney are being contacted directly to come forward for their planned third primary dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
The Joint Committee for Vaccinations & Immunisations (JCVI) has recommended that people who were severely immunosuppressed at the time of their first or second vaccination should be offered a third dose eight weeks after their second.
Following a robust process, NHS England and NHS Improvement has recommended, and the Secretary of State has agreed, that the Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt is the Chair-designate of the new NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB), ready to take up the post from April 2022 should Parliament confirm the current plans.
Patricia, a former Secretary of State for Health, has been the Independent Chair of the Norfolk and Waveney Health and Care Partnership (ICS) for the last four years, and together with senior clinical and management colleagues, she has been instrumental in driving forward the partnership’s work.
In Stoptober’s 10th year, smokers across Norfolk and Waveney are encouraged to join the thousands of other smokers across the country who have made a quit attempt and successfully quit.
It comes after a recent nationwide survey of 2,000 current smokers found that nearly half (45%) have been smoking more since the first lockdown began. Key reasons reported were being bored in the lockdowns (43%) or the pandemic making them more anxious (42%). In addition, data from the monthly UCL Smoking Toolkit Study indicates a large increase in smoking among the under-35s since the coronavirus pandemic, up from 18% in 2019 to 24% now.