{"id":508039,"date":"2025-10-17T23:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T23:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/508039\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T23:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T23:45:13","slug":"free-flu-vaccines-offered-to-poultry-workers-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/508039\/","title":{"rendered":"Free flu vaccines offered to poultry workers in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NHS Scotland is offering free flu vaccinations this winter to people at risk of exposure to avian influenza.<\/p>\n<p>The drive, launched ahead of winter 2025, aims to protect those working in close contact with birds.<\/p>\n<p>While the seasonal flu vaccine does not protect against avian flu, it can reduce the risk of a person being infected with both viruses at once.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fwi.co.uk\/farm-life\/health-and-wellbeing\/farm-doctor-what-to-do-when-you-have-the-flu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Farm Doctor: What to do when you have the flu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Those eligible for a free flu vaccine include people who:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Work at or regularly visit poultry units and processing facilities<\/li>\n<li>Are involved in culling or cleaning at outbreak sites<\/li>\n<li>Handle live, unwell birds where bird flu is suspected<\/li>\n<li>Collect carcasses of wild or domestic birds, including sea birds, in areas where bird flu may be present<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Employers are encouraged to promote the vaccine to staff.<\/p>\n<p>Public Health Scotland has provided <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealthscotland-newsroom.prgloo.com\/resources\/f\/immunisation\/winter-vaccines\/poultry-workers-and-bird-handlers-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">posters and materials to support uptake<\/a> that can be found here.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlease help us this winter and encourage your staff to get vaccinated,\u201d reads the guidance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe vaccine protects against seasonal flu, which will help keep your workforce healthy and reduce staff illness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Appointments can be booked via the NHS website or by calling 0800 030 8013.<\/p>\n<p>Individuals should select \u201cWinter 2025 \u2013 Flu vaccine \u2013 aged 18 years and over\u201d and identify as a \u201cpoultry worker\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>An Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) remains in place across Scotland, first declared on 25 January 2025 and amended most recently on 26 September 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The AIPZ requires strict biosecurity measures for all bird keepers, though housing birds is not currently mandatory.<\/p>\n<p>Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 was last confirmed near Banff, Aberdeenshire, on 1 August 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NHS Scotland is offering free flu vaccinations this winter to people at risk of exposure to avian influenza.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-508039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-scotland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115392172805985061","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}