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Medical Bulletin from Down Under
Jun. 15th, 2022 03:21 pmI had my flu jab today. Mid-June might seem a bit late for that, and it is: normally I get it in April as soon as it's available. I wasn't going to bother at all this year, though, given that I've hardly left the house since February. However, "hardly ever" isn't the same as "never", and I've heard some pretty frightening things about this year's flu (which is Influenza A).
We have a Dr Fauci here in New Zealand, although they're a bit different in that our Dr Ashley Bloomfield is almost universally adored*. Ash was recently at the World Health Assembly in Switzerland, and he reported back that the Northern Hemisphere is keeping a very close eye on what's going on in our winter. Well, the news is in, and it's not great. It's a bad one. Some people say they were much sicker than with Covid; others say they were convinced it was in fact Covid because it felt so serious. Picking the right strains for the yearly vaccine is always a crapshoot, and this year while they included Influenza A in our vaccine, it's not the same strain as the one that's circulating. It gives some protection, though, so I'll take that. According to Ash, of the people currently in hospital here with respiratory diseases, 20% of them have Covid and the other 80% have the flu. Hopefully, by the time the flu virus hits the Northern Hemisphere winter they'll have tweaked the vaccine to be more effective. I strongly recommend you get it.
*Tragically, Ash has broken New Zealand's heart by announcing his resignation from his job as Director-General of Health. I can't blame him: he worked unbelievably hard and he aged visibly over the last couple of years. But it's hard to envisage life without him. Even though he apparently hated doing them, his soothing, sciency presence on the must-see Daily 1 p.m. Update got a lot of us through our lockdowns and through Covid in general. Here's a compilation of his best moments. There's even a guest appearance from the exceptionally stupid theory of a certain orange seditionist.
We have a Dr Fauci here in New Zealand, although they're a bit different in that our Dr Ashley Bloomfield is almost universally adored*. Ash was recently at the World Health Assembly in Switzerland, and he reported back that the Northern Hemisphere is keeping a very close eye on what's going on in our winter. Well, the news is in, and it's not great. It's a bad one. Some people say they were much sicker than with Covid; others say they were convinced it was in fact Covid because it felt so serious. Picking the right strains for the yearly vaccine is always a crapshoot, and this year while they included Influenza A in our vaccine, it's not the same strain as the one that's circulating. It gives some protection, though, so I'll take that. According to Ash, of the people currently in hospital here with respiratory diseases, 20% of them have Covid and the other 80% have the flu. Hopefully, by the time the flu virus hits the Northern Hemisphere winter they'll have tweaked the vaccine to be more effective. I strongly recommend you get it.
*Tragically, Ash has broken New Zealand's heart by announcing his resignation from his job as Director-General of Health. I can't blame him: he worked unbelievably hard and he aged visibly over the last couple of years. But it's hard to envisage life without him. Even though he apparently hated doing them, his soothing, sciency presence on the must-see Daily 1 p.m. Update got a lot of us through our lockdowns and through Covid in general. Here's a compilation of his best moments. There's even a guest appearance from the exceptionally stupid theory of a certain orange seditionist.
