Expect 'difficult winter' with both flu and Covid wave, warns CMO

GPs should expect a resurgence of flu cases alongside another winter wave of Covid, the chief medical officer has warned. He said that a ‘difficult winter’ lies ahead, although it may not reach the pressures felt this year. It comes as studies are underway to assess whether flu and Covid vaccinations can be co-administered later this year. Speaking yesterday at the final afternoon of NHS Confed’s annual conference, Professor Chris Whitty said that after the current wave, he is expecting a further ‘surge’ of Covid in late autumn/winter when respiratory viruses are ‘favoured’. The size of this will depend on any new variants and ‘how the current wave passes through the UK’, but ‘revaccination’ should be expected for the next two to three years, he added. He told delegates: ‘If I look five years out, I would expect us to have polyvalent vaccines which will hold the line to a very large degree against even new variants as they come in and an ability to respond with vaccination to new variants.