Flu season takeaways – what nurses need to know this winter

This article was sponsored by CSL Seqirus. CSL Seqirus had no involvement in the writing or editorial process of this article. Since the flu pandemic of 2009 (with exception of the two pandemic years), our flu seasons tended to have followed a low and late pattern. Influenza starts circulating around January with type A strains first then followed by type B leading into April and May. The pattern of influenza was different in 2023/24. Reported positivity rates were considerably lower than 2022/23 (and compared to 2017/18 onwards). Rates peaked in January but as of week 18, remain higher than 2022/23 and follow that low late pattern. This article discusses the learnings from recent flu seasons and how nurses can most effectively use the annual immunisation drive.