More than 13,000 islanders in designated priority groups have been vaccinated for the flu so far this month.

Over 65s, pregnant women, care home residents, babies older than six months, health workers and nursery, primary and secondary schoolchildren are all eligible for a free vaccine this year.

Medics want at least a 70% uptake across the island this year because of the ongoing risk posed by the coronavirus pandemic. There is a bigger push this year to stop people from possibly getting flu and Covid-19 at the same time.

Dr. Adrian Noon says 2,000 schoolchildren from eight primary schools have been vaccinated so far, along with more than 1,000 health staff.

"Over 2,000 school children from eight primary schools have been vaccinated so far, which is a 10% increase on last year’s figures. Since the start of this month, GPs and pharmacists have vaccinated 10,000 patients of all ages who were identified as being high risk. More than 1,000 health staff have been vaccinated already, of which 658 are patient-facing. This already represents a record number of vaccinations.

"I’d like to thank those who have received their vaccine for being part of the Island’s fight against COVID and those who have worked hard to administer the vaccine so efficiently over the past few weeks. The vaccine will continue to be made available to all Islanders over the next few months and I urge all Islanders to get themselves vaccinated."

People aged 50-64 will also get a free flu vaccination this year.

The Chief Minister was vaccinated yesterday.

Thank you to the medical staff who administered my flu vaccine this morning. More than 13,000 flu vaccines have already been administered.

Find out more about why the flu vaccine is particularly important this year and how to get yours via the link belowhttps://t.co/WHhf5hZXez pic.twitter.com/yTQrHaVHuj

— John Le Fondre (@John_Le_Fondre) October 21, 2020