Immunologist Graham Le Gros says there has been a heavy focus on getting people vaccinated against Covid-19. But he told Newstalk ZB's Tim Dower adding the flu into the mix could overwhelm our health system.
Le Gros says healthcare workers being vulnerable because they're not vaccinated against the flu, is a double whammy we don't need.
It comes as Wellington's two DHBs have paused non-urgent care, due to an unprecedented level of staff absence.
Hundreds of planned surgeries are likely to be affected over the next four weeks, and the government is considering widening free access to the flu vaccine as the health system struggles under the pressure.
Health Minister Andrew Little said Covid-19 numbers were higher than anticipated, and the influenza season hit earlier.
"The best thing we can do to keep pressure off our hospital system is get more people with the flu jab," Little told Morning Report.
"There's consideration being given to how we can widen access to free flu shots.
"We're just monitoring the uptake of the flu vaccination at the moment."
John Tait, the chief medical officer at Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley DHBs, says staff are away due to general illness, the long tail of Covid, and staff needing to isolate or care for dependents.
He says the vast majority of planned care will be deferred where it's safe to do so, with senior clinical and nursing teams making decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Emergency care and non-deferrable cardiac, thoracic, cancer and paediatric care will continue as normal.
Le Gros says we're going to need all our health workers this winter. He says we haven't had a flu round for a couple of years now, so it's quite likely people are going to need hospitalisation and good health care, so we need robust health workers.
When it comes to the general public, almost 9900 people have had the flu vaccine, including 64 per cent of people aged 65 plus.
- Additional reporting by RNZ
