Enza Magpies roll up sleeves for protection

MEDIA ADVISORY

27 April 2004

Enza Magpies roll up sleeves for the ultimate protection

When you’re working towards a place in the first division, you need all the help you can get…and this Wednesday night, the Enza Magpies, Hawke’s Bay’s representative rugby team, will each receive a boost to their defence in the form of a ‘shot’ in the arm, all in the name of protecting themselves against influenza.

Last year’s captain, Donovan Hall says the team are rolling up their sleeves to receive the influenza vaccine, to help protect them from the ‘flu. “We need every team member to be at peak performance this winter and we’re not prepared to run the risk of losing players due to influenza,” he said. “As the saying goes: ‘the bigger they are the harder they fall’ and when you see a fit healthy rugby player reduced to a couple of weeks in bed, it’s a pretty sorry sight,” he said.

Hawke’s Bay District Health Board’s immunisation coordinator, Marg Dalton, said influenza can affect anyone – even those who are fit and healthy. “People with existing medical conditions are certainly more at risk of serious complications, but those who are fit and healthy can also have the wind knocked out of their sails for two or more weeks, when they get a true case of influenza. It can be a very serious disease.”

Marg Dalton said the particular strains of influenza circulating in the northern hemisphere during their winter outbreak hit people hard, and even healthy people found they couldn’t ‘shake it off’ easily.

“It’s important to remember, you do need an influenza vaccine each year, to protect yourself against the current strains of the virus.

“Influenza vaccine is free for those at greatest risk only until the 30th June - the sooner you are vaccinated the sooner you are protected. It takes two weeks for the vaccine to become fully effective,” says Margaret Dalton.

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