What is flu?

What is flu?

Flu starts with a high fever. You feel very ill and weak. In most people flu goes away on its own, but some people can become seriously ill from it, for example:

• people aged 60 and over;
• people with heart disease;
• people with lung disease.

They may, for example, develop heart problems or pneumonia.

Preventing infection

• Touch your nose and mouth as little as possible.
• Cough or sneeze into a paper tissue or into your elbow.
• Use a paper tissue only once and then throw it away.
• Wash your hands regularly with soap and water.

Who is the free flu jab for?

The free flu jab is intended for people who can become very ill from flu. These are people:

• aged 60 or over;
• with a long-term heart or vascular disease;
• with a long-term lung disease, such as asthma or COPD;
• with diabetes;
• with kidney disease;
• with reduced resistance due to an illness, a treatment such as chemotherapy, or medicines that lower resistance.

If you belong to one of these groups, you will receive an invitation from your GP in the autumn. If you are pregnant, you can also simply have the flu jab. The jab is safe for you and your unborn child.

Do you work in healthcare? Then you are also advised to have the jab. This reduces the chance that you pass the flu virus on to patients. Ask your employer how you can get the jab and whether the costs are covered.

Not in the target group, but would you still like a flu jab? Then you pay for the vaccine and the jab yourself. Some supplementary insurance policies cover (part of) the costs. Read how to request a flu jab at your own request.

When should you have the flu jab?

Preferably have the flu jab between mid-October and the end of November. Do not wait until lots of people have flu: the jab only works after 2 weeks.

• Do you have a fever (38 °C or higher)? Then you cannot have the jab. Wait until the fever has gone. If you have a cold, you can still have the jab as normal.
• Are you having chemotherapy? Then preferably have the jab before the first course. If that is not possible, you can also have it during or after chemotherapy.
• Are you allergic to chicken egg protein or to the antibiotics gentamicin or neomycin, and have you ever had a severe reaction to them? Then talk to your GP first.

How does the flu jab work?

The flu jab contains small, harmless pieces of various dead flu viruses. These make your body produce antibodies. After 2 weeks you have enough antibodies. If you become infected after that, the antibodies make the virus harmless and you do not become ill, or you become less ill.

The jab only protects against the most common flu viruses, not against other viruses, such as the virus that causes colds.

Why a new jab every year?

The jab protects you for about half a year. In addition, the flu virus keeps changing, so you can get flu again every year. Experts predict which flu viruses will be most common in the coming winter; the jab is adjusted every year on that basis.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

• You are less likely to get flu.
• If you do get flu, you are usually less ill.
• The risk of an additional illness, such as pneumonia, is lower.
• The risk that an existing illness, such as a lung disease or diabetes, gets worse because of flu is lower.
• The risk of dying from flu or its consequences is lower.
• You also protect the people around you.

Disadvantages

• Your arm may be tender for 1 or 2 days. The injection site may be painful, red or swollen.
• You may feel less well for a few days. That is not flu: you cannot get flu from the jab itself.
• If you have previously had an allergic reaction to chicken egg protein, neomycin or gentamicin, you may react allergically to the jab.
• The jab does not give full protection. If you do get flu, the symptoms are usually less severe.

Serious side effects are rare. Have you had a side effect? Report it to us or to Bijwerkingencentrum Lareb (the Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre) via lareb.nl.

More information

• About the flu jab: rivm.nl/griepprik
• What the flu jab contains: rivm.nl/griepprik/bijsluiter
• You can find information in English, Turkish or Arabic on the website of the RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment).

This information is based on the advice of the Health Council of the Netherlands (Gezondheidsraad).