A surge in illness has left a school principal likening it to ‘being back in Covid times’ after 170 pupils were off sick on a single day.
Principal Brian Guthrie of Ebrington Primary School in Northern Ireland said some of the pupils had to attend the hospital, and a small number were admitted for treatment last week.
In the last two weeks, confirmed flu cases among adults and children across Northern Ireland have more than tripled, rising from 273 to 954.
Director of Public Health at the Public Health Authority (PHA), Dr Joanne McClean, has said numbers are expected to rise.
It has not just been the flu that has hit Mr Guthrie’s school, with many students having stomach bugs, sore throats and other illnesses.
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Some of his classroom assistants were also absent because of illness, which made it a ‘very challenging time’, he told the BBC’s North West Today programme.
Mr Guthrie was taken back to 2020, with the attendance being worse last week than it would have been during the worst parts of the Covid pandemic.
He said the high levels of absence have had an impact on pupils’ learning, with teachers not able to do literacy and numeracy lessons.
Every winter brings a rise in seasonal illnesses like flu, but experts warn this year’s outbreak could be the worst in a decade.
This is due to a seasonal flu virus that randomly mutated this summer, making it easier for it to evade some of our natural immunity.
The strain of flu called H3 is more infectious than the usual types and seems to be impacting children more significantly than before.
To try and tackle this, the NHS issued a ‘flu jab SOS’.
Who is eligible for the flu vaccine?
In Northern Ireland, flu vaccines are free to all pre-school children, aged two and over, as well as primary school and secondary school kids.
People aged 65 and over, pregnant women, those with underlying health conditions, care-home residents, and those who work in health and social care are also eligible for free vaccines.
You can get your vaccines through GPs, community pharmacies, school programmes and local Trust clinics.
Those who are not eligible for free ones can still pay to get a flu vaccine at pharmacies that offer the service.
It takes about seven to ten days for the vaccine to protect against the flu.
Dr McClean told BBC that the likelihood of a child needing hospital treatment is reduced by about 70% if they get the vaccine.
In Northern Ireland, the PHA is responsible for the flu vaccine roll-out in schools, where about 1,200 are covered by the programme.
However, she told The Nolan Show that about 40 schools in Northern Ireland had not been visited by the vaccine programme.
Despite the vaccine programme, the uptake among children across all ages remains below 50%, according to PHA figures.
Data published by the PHA showed that in the week ending November 30, under-five-year-olds had the highest number of confirmed flu cases of any age group.
In the same time frame, the number of positive tests and flu-related hospital admissions had almost doubled compared to the week before.
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