A general practitioner is calling on all Australians to be diligent with their vaccinations, and for people to receive the annual flu shot when they go for their Covid-19 booster.
It comes as experts warn a “super cold” breakout is threatening vulnerability communities, with symptoms of the virus almost entirely the same to that of Covid-19.
Dr Charlotte Hespe, Director of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), said infections have increased since border restrictions have ben lifted.
“We are definitely seeing an increased number of respiratory tract infections, both lower respiratory infections or pneumonias, and upper respiratory track infection colds,” Dr Hespe said.
Health experts believe that the peak in infections is directly related to the country being locked down over the last two flu seasons.
As a result, people’s immunity from the flu is at an all time low after two years of on and off isolation.
The return to normality is seeing thousands of people contract infections, reporting symptoms of body aches, general fatigue, sore throat, cough and runny nose – each in line COVID-19 but without the positive test results.
The “super cold” first emerged in the UK last November, and made its way to Australia at a time where people are becoming complacent with health advice, and fatigued from the influx of health information.
“Often we forget about the seriousness of the flu because we have a good vaccine program,” Dr Hespe said.
Experts are concerned Australians are experiencing “vaccine fatigue”, with only 59 per cent of those eligible having had their third COVID-19 vaccine dose.
With flu season approaching, it is imperative Australians are up to date with vaccinations.
Image credits: Getty Images
This article first appeared on OverSixty.