The flu vaccine should be taken by non-vulnerable people who will interact with elderly relatives, a Sage adviser has suggested, amid warnings that flu deaths could be the worst for 50 years.

       Wendy Barclay, Professor of Virology at Imperial College London and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), has warned that people can infect others with the flu without knowing they have caught the virus themselves.

       She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that it is "so important" for people to get the flu vaccination "early in the season" this year due to lower immunity after prolonged social distancing and lockdowns resulted in far fewer infections than previous years.

       Professor Barclay warned "it could be the case" that lockdown lowered flu immunity among the general population, which is why "it's so important that we help our immune systems and get that little extra boost by getting the vaccine early in the season".

       Though getting the vaccination is a "personal choice for everyone", Professor Barclay said that "it’s worth considering your own circumstance" as getting the jab "protects you against the illness but it also protects other people around you".

       She said: "If you're likely to have an elderly relative whose own immune system doesn't work as well as yours and therefore although they get their vaccine, it might not work 100 per cent in them, you can help protect them by getting yourself vaccinated as well."

       The advice comes amid warnings from health chiefs that Britain could see up to 60,000 flu deaths this winter, which the deputy chief medical officer called "a significant public health concern".

       Professor Jonathan Van-Tam has said that flu circulation "might be higher than usual" this year.

       As a result of these warnings, the NHS has launched the biggest flu vaccination campaign in its history, which will see more than 35 million people offered a flu jab this winter.

       Professor Barclay said that predictions of flu deaths being above normal levels this winter "is not unreasonable", unless it is brought "under control with vaccines".

       However, she said that reaching the upper limits of the mortality modelling for this winter would be "difficult to achieve".

       She warned that we "don't yet really know" what the consequences of catching the flu and Covid-19 at the same time are, and that this is another reason "we need to get flu under control".