The flu vaccine
If you've ever had the flu, you know how sick you can be. In 2022, 1,293,664 people had the flu in New Zealand.
Get the vaccine to prevent the flu
Getting a flu vaccine helps reduce your risk of getting really sick or having to go to hospital.
The flu virus affects your whole body. Symptoms come on suddenly and can include fever, chills, muscle aches, runny nose, cough, shortness of breath, and stomach upsets. It can keep you in bed for a week or more.
It can give you pneumonia. And in severe cases means a hospital stay – particularly if you’re older, a young child, pregnant, or have an ongoing medical condition, such as heart disease or diabetes. Sometimes the flu can be fatal – around 500 people die from the flu every year, with hundreds more hospitalised.
Increased flu risk with the New Zealand border opening
As people in Aotearoa emerge from their bubbles, there’s a much bigger chance of catching the flu. Pandemic measures like mask wearing and hand hygiene mean we've had very little influenza circulating in New Zealand for the past two years, so community immunity is lower than usual. And, with international borders opening, we’ll see new strains of flu spreading in our communities.
Reduce the spread of flu to friends and whanau
Getting a flu vaccine each year is the best way to stop flu from spreading. Around four out of five people with flu have no symptoms and don't know they can be spreading the virus to other people. Being vaccinated reduces the risk of accidentally passing the flu to your whanau, friends, and your community.
Getting a flu vaccine
Flu vaccines are free for those people who are most likely to get very sick. Anyone over 6 months can have a flu vaccine.
Flu vaccinations are free for:
People aged 65 years and over
Maori and Pacific people aged 55 years and over
Pregnant people
People who have a long-term medical condition like diabetes, asthma, or a heart condition (ages 6 months+)
Flu vaccinations are available from April 2023 and can be done at Queen Street Pharmacy.
