Footballers kick off flu jab campaign

FOOTBALLERS have kicked off the Scottish Government’s annual flu campaign by encouraging those at risk to get the vaccine.

Players from Partick Thistle football club were joined at their Firhill ground in Glasgow by health secretary Alex Neil yesterday.

This year’s vaccine target group are under-65s with a medical condition, over-65s, pregnant women, health and social care workers and unpaid carers.

About a million people are vaccinated in Scotland each 
year. Last year, three-fifths (60 per cent) of under-65s in the at-risk groups were vaccinated, along with about three-quarters (76.6 per cent) of over-65s. Thirty per cent of NHS frontline staff also got the jab.

Footballer Stephen O’Donnell, 20, had a heart condition earlier in his career. Yesterday, he said: “The whole experience made me realise how important your health is and I don’t want to ever go through anything like that again. That’s the reason I get the flu jab every year. I know it will protect me.”