IF YOU are one of the handful of people left in the UK after the devastating and deadly covid events of 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 . . . and counting, then you have probably only survived long enough to be killed by the next flu epidemic. And, by all accounts, a big one is on the way.
Flu is horrible. I’ve had it a few times. It kills people but, let’s face it, mostly people who were not going to live much longer anyway. And, similarly to covid. Hands up if you know someone who died of flu? I know nobody who died of either and I’m an old age pensioner whose friends are similarly aged.
That is not a denial that both covid and flu can kill, just a reality check to show that the eventuality is so unlikely that the results are obvious. Hardly anyone knows of anyone who died of either virus. Sorry if your granny did die of it, but that does not alter the fact that this is a rare event.
So, what are the news headlines and government and NHS websites saying about the forthcoming flu season? Well, they are taking things in their customary calm and measured way with absolutely no sense of panic . . . I wish. They may as well publish a single article with the headline ‘We’re all doomed’.
The BBC, never known to tell anything but the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, reckons ‘New flu virus mutation could see worst season in a decade’. The article opens with ‘Flu strikes every winter, but this year something seems to be different’ which, given that nothing has happened yet, seems a bit like making stuff up. This is an annual mantra regarding the flu season. When have you ever read a headline that told us the next flu season was going to be mild or that that it was likely to be the least deadly for a decade? I thought so. Never.
And, where would we be without the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) to tell us all how bad things are likely to be and what to do about it? In fact, they have an ‘expert’ to hand to explain how flu evolves quickly, how many strains are threatening humanity and, of course, what to do about it. All roads lead to the flu vaccine, which is not really that effective with an absolute risk reduction of only 1.4 per cent, and the expert, Professor Puman Mangtani, even suggests wearing facemasks in public places. I am right in assuming that she considers herself to be an evidence-based practitioner?
There seems to be some concern that the flu season has started earlier than usual and, according to the UK Government’s surveillance report up to November 2, flu levels are rising as covid levels are decreasing. Funny that; it almost leads one to question whether flu and covid are not just the same thing or perhaps that one of them does not really exist? But I’ll leave readers to ponder.
As predictable as the annual flu panic is the annual narcissistic NHS bleat about how they are going to be overwhelmed. And, in lockstep with the flu panic, they have started bleating early too. They are warning of a ‘long and drawn out’ winter for the NHS and they have issued a ‘flu jab SOS’. As I said above, no sign of panic there.
As I also said above, all roads lead to the flu vaccine. In a UK Government blog which asks its own question, ‘How well will I be protected from flu this year with the current UK influenza vaccines?’ the answer is given free from the encumbrance of any evidence to support its claims. The answer is also provided in exceedingly patronising language. Thus, ‘Think of flu vaccines like preparing for a winter trip: you pack layers to protect against rain, snow, and wind because you don’t know exactly what weather you’ll face and when. Similarly, the flu vaccines provide different layers of protection for each type of flu, to try and give you the broadest protection across the whole of winter.’ Who writes this stuff? Noddy?
Meantime, in other flu-related news, if the seasonal flu doesn’t get you then the bird flu might. Faced with the possibility of a bird flu epidemic which might kill a lot of birds, the approach seems, ironically, to be to kill a lot of birds.
We are doing it and Canada is too. Over the Atlantic where an ostrich sneezed, or whatever ostriches do when they have the flu, 400 ostriches on a farm were culled (which is the word they use when they want to justify wholesale killing of animals) to the obvious distress of those working with them. But don’t worry, this was done ‘humanely’ by marksmen until a pen full of ostriches lay dead. I wonder how humane it is to hear a series of loud bangs and see your fellow ostriches falling around you?
Here in the UK, turkeys have started praying for Christmas as if they make it that far they’ll be the lucky ones. We are panicking almost as much about this as we are about the real flu and the Government keeps those who are interested up to date. All the reports begin, ‘Highly pathogenic avian influenza’ confirmed on this farm or that farm and that a ‘3km protection zone and 10km surveillance zone have been declared’.
You’ll have seen these if you drive in the British countryside where you are regularly informed that you are either entering or leaving an avian flu control zone. Strangely, you would not know unless you saw the signs and you are not expected to take any particular action. It is all part of the strategy to instil fear.
Sadly, some turkeys in Norfolk, the heart of turkey country, won’t make it to the Christmas table this year. Numbers are not provided but all the turkeys on one farm were culled (that word again). This does not only represent a loss of Christmas dinners but the loss of one man’s livelihood. Farmers are compensated for the loss of poultry through avian flu culls but amounts are hard to find suggesting compensation is not generous.
Winter descends, the experts dust off their annual doom-laden scripts and the public is exhorted to panic. The NHS, as usual, tries to steal the limelight. Most of us will endure to tell our grandchildren how, once more, we survived the ‘worst flu season in a decade’. One wonders how long it may be before we move from facemasks, vaccines and social distancing to culling humans. If it works for turkeys and ostriches . . .
