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The UK will have a flu season in the next two years.
The images are from the PA.
The UK is one of a number of countries that are stepping up their efforts to get people in at-risk groups to get vaccinations against both flu and covid-19.
The UK Health Security Agency has warned that this winter is likely to be particularly bad for flu.
Some people may be feeling the same sensations. The expected "twindemic" of flu and covid-19 didn't materialise.
That doesn't mean we should stop listening to warnings. Many people were still practicing social distance last winter.
In England, as the omicron coronaviruses variant began surging in December, there were compulsory face masks in most indoor public spaces and proof of vaccine to enter nightclubs.
There was less social mixing in other areas.
Flu is less transmissible than the coronaviruses and it was suppressed to very low levels.
The number of people hospitalized with flu in England peaked at one-sixth of the 2014–2018 2014–2018.
In an average winter, 20% to 30% of people are exposed to the flu. For the past two years, almost all normal exposures didn't happen. The UK will have less population immunity to flu than usual.
Social mixing is likely to return to pre-pandemic levels this winter as the UK does not plan to re-introduce restrictions. The coming flu season is expected to be the first in three years that will allow the spread of respiratory virus.
During its winter, Australia gives an indication of what may happen in the north. There were more cases there before the covid-19 epidemic began.
H3N2 was the main flu variant in Australia this year. The UK had a higher flu hospitalisation rate in the past.
The H3N2 virus is present in the vaccine that will be offered in the north.
The Australian flu season this year saw a higher peak of cases than average, and this happened earlier in the winter, in May and June.
Anyone in the northern hemisphere who is eligible should get a flu vaccine as soon as possible. Steve Russell of the National Health Service England said that you should book in as soon as possible.
Covid-19 is still alive and well. According to the latest figures from hospitals and the Office for National Statistics, cases are rising again in the UK.
The effects of the twindemic could be seen for the first time this winter.
The rise in covid-19 isn't being caused by a different coronaviruses variant, but by several new subvariants of omicron, and the bivalent vaccine on offer in many countries has an omicron component. Everyone eligible for a booster in the UK should get the bivalent version.
It's important that eligible groups take up their offers of covid-19 boosters and flu vaccines because of the twin threat.
"Public health campaigns need to provide clear and strong messages about the risks of flu as well as covid to those who are vulnerable as well as to the health system."
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