Flu vaccines are now available for all School of Clinical Medicine staff (this includes clinical staff with CUH Honorary contracts, clinical staff with Honorary contracts with other Trusts, non-clinical staff and clinical and graduate medical students).

Important information

• Flu jabs are available via drop-in clinics which are running Monday to Friday each week from 08:00-17:30 at the Addenbrookes Hospital Concourse Clinics. Staff do not need to book to receive their flu vaccine. Queues may occur during busy periods. The clinics will be ending on Friday 22nd December.
• Names will be checked against a list at the door, dated 7 September 2023. CS Reward will be sending an updated list to the Trust fortnightly to account for new starters.
• Consent forms for all groups can be found above. Please print and fill out ahead of arriving at the Concourse clinic and hand to the vaccinator. All those who would like to be vaccinated must take with them the following when they attend the drop in clinic:
• Photographic ID badge (Identify themselves as University of Cambridge either Clinical School, medical student or honorary contract holder with CUH)
• NHS number (this must be added to their consent forms)
• Anyone 65 or over must fill out a different consent form (also above) and receive a different vaccine

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Sophie via the CS Reward Inbox csreward@admin.cam.ac.uk

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Flu vaccination is available every year on the NHS to help protect adults and children at risk of flu and its complications.

Flu can be unpleasant, but if you are otherwise healthy it will usually clear up on its own within a week.

However, flu can be more severe in certain people, such as:

• anyone aged 65 and over
• pregnant women
• children and adults with an underlying health condition (particularly long-term heart or respiratory disease)
• children and adults with weakened immune systems

Anyone in these risk groups is more likely to develop potentially serious complications of flu, such as pneumonia (a lung infection), so it’s recommended that they have a flu vaccine every year to protect them.

The injected flu vaccine is offered free on the NHS annually to:

• adults over the age of 18 at risk of flu (including everyone aged 65 and over)
• pregnant women
• children aged six months to two years at risk of flu

Find out more about who should have the flu jab.

Flu nasal spray vaccination

The flu vaccine is routinely given on the NHS as an annual nasal spray to:

• children aged two, three and four years old plus children in school years one, two and three.
• children aged two to 17 years at a particular risk of flu

Read more about the flu nasal spray for children.

Where to get the flu jab

You can have your NHS flu jab at:

• your GP surgery
• a local pharmacy offering the service
• your midwifery service if they offer it for pregnant women

Some community pharmacies now offer flu vaccination to adults (but not children) at risk of flu including pregnant women, people aged 65 and over, people with long-term health conditions and carers.

If you have your flu jab at a pharmacy, you don’t have to inform your GP – it is up to the pharmacist to do that.

How effective is the flu jab?

Flu vaccine is the best protection we have against an unpredictable virus that can cause unpleasant illness in children and severe illness and death among at-risk groups, including older people, pregnant women and those with an underlying medical health condition.

Studies have shown that the flu jab does work and will help prevent you getting the flu. It won’t stop all flu viruses and the level of protection may vary between people, so it’s not a 100% guarantee that you’ll be flu-free, but if you do get flu after vaccination it’s likely to be milder and shorter-lived than it would otherwise have been.

There is also evidence to suggest that the flu jab can reduce your risk of having a stroke.

Over time, protection from the injected flu vaccine gradually decreases and flu strains often change. So new flu vaccines are produced each year which is why people advised to have the flu jab need it every year too.

Read more about how the flu jab works.

Flu jab side effects

Serious side effects of the injected flu vaccine are very rare. You may have a slight temperature and aching muscles for a couple of days after having the jab, and your arm may be a bit sore where you were injected.

Read more about the side effects of the flu jab.

When to have a flu jab

The best time to have a flu vaccine is in the autumn, from the beginning of October to early November, but don’t worry if you’ve missed it, you can have the vaccine later in winter. Ask your GP or pharmacist.

Is there anyone who shouldn’t have the flu jab?

Most adults can have the injected flu vaccine, but you should avoid it if you have had a serious allergic reaction to a flu jab in the past.

Read more about who shouldn’t have the flu vaccine.

You can find out more by reading the answers to the most common questions that people have about the flu vaccine.