Redbridge doctors are urging residents to get a flu jab to protect themselves through winter.

The vaccine is available from GPs through the flu season starting this month and peaking in January.

Anyone aged 65 or over, children aged between two and three and pregnant women are at heightened risk from the virus.

People with long-term health conditions like heart problems and chest complaints, those with weakened immune systems and people who care for elderly and disabled people should also get immunised.

The jab is updated every year to cope with new strains of flu, so anyone who had it last year needs it again.

Dr Anil Mehta, chairman of the Redbridge Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “The flu jab is completely safe, it’s free, and it can’t give you flu.”