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Speaker 1: You know that Territorians over the age of six months

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Speaker 1: are now able to receive their twenty twenty three influenza vaccine.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line to tell us a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about the situation is Pasquaalina Coffee, a

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Speaker 1: public health physician within to Health. Good morning to you, Pasqualina,

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Speaker 1: good morning, Thanks so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Now tell us a little bit more about the influenza vaccine.

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Speaker 1: I know that it is now available. Who's eligible?

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Speaker 2: That's correct, So any Territorian of the age of six

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Speaker 2: months now can receive their twenty twenty three influenta vaccine.

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Speaker 2: And for nearly or just over one hundred thousand Territorians

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Speaker 2: who are eligible to get a free flu vaccine, they're

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Speaker 2: able to go to their vaccine provider with GP or

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Speaker 2: pharmacy for that. And so that's you know, all children

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Speaker 2: from six months to five years or aboriginal Torres Strait Islanders.

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Speaker 2: And then also anyone with a specific chronic medical condition

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Speaker 2: such as chronic heart disease and chronic lung disease, because

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Speaker 2: we know that those people, if they get the flu,

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Speaker 2: it can be particularly serious. And then also all pregnant

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Speaker 2: women and all people aged over sixty five and Pascorale.

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Speaker 1: That there does seem to be quite a few people

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Speaker 1: around at the moment. I don't know whether they've got

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Speaker 1: common colds or what they've got, but there does seem

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Speaker 1: to be a few people that are crook.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct. To date for this year, we've had

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Speaker 2: nearly a thousand cases already of the flu and badly

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Speaker 2: four deaths in among territorians. But yeah, we've seen much

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Speaker 2: higher rate than we have seen in the past few years.

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Speaker 2: And having said that, last year we had our highest

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Speaker 2: number of the flu ever with all the restrictions coming

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Speaker 2: off for COVID and people traveling again. So now between

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Speaker 2: now and winter for down south especially, it's the best

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Speaker 2: time for people to start getting prepared and getting protected

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Speaker 2: against the flu.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, So already a thousand cases of the flu

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Speaker 1: here in the territory this year and four deaths, did

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Speaker 1: you say, Yes, that is really sad to hear. And

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Speaker 1: we know that you know that, Like you said, we've

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Speaker 1: got those high rates from last year. How can we

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Speaker 1: reckon any idea why there are such high numbers already

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Speaker 1: this year.

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Speaker 2: Well, we've probably seen just an ongoing the high rates

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Speaker 2: last years still circulating. As we said, people are enjoying

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Speaker 2: traveling again, whether that's interstate or internationally. And then we

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Speaker 2: had two years of essentially very few flu cases, so

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Speaker 2: people don't have any underlying immunity. And that's why, you know,

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Speaker 2: getting vaccinated and keeping up those good practices of good hygiene,

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Speaker 2: you know, coughetiq and things like that, is the best

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Speaker 2: way to protect ourselves and protect each other.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, look it's hard to argue with that. I've

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Speaker 1: got two kids, so I think you end up with

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Speaker 1: everything that's floating around at different times. Bas it's a

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Speaker 1: tough juggle. When you've got young ones, they seem to

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Speaker 1: pick up everything.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's unfortunate. Ongoing struggle there.

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Speaker 1: Now, tell me it's the flu vaccine. I know you've

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Speaker 1: gone through who's eligible? Where can people go if they

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Speaker 1: do want a bit more info? And you know, just

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Speaker 1: in terms of booking those vaccines, is it something that

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Speaker 1: you can do at any GP?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so people can go through their GP. There's also

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Speaker 2: some pharmacies that supply the flu vaccine, but also all

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Speaker 2: the community care centers, so they're in every NT major

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Speaker 2: city in town. Also, you've got your aboriginal medical services,

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Speaker 2: remote health services and anyone who wants more information. The

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Speaker 2: easiest way you go to the nt health website online

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Speaker 2: and just google influenza or flu vaccine and all the

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Speaker 2: information there for you.

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Speaker 1: Well, Public health physician Pascorlina Coffee, We really appreciate your

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Speaker 1: time this morning. Thank you so very much for having

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Speaker 1: a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Okay, thank you, Katie, thank you