Carrie Johnson has begged people to get the flu jab after spending almost a week in hospital with a chest infection that left her “struggling to breathe”.

The wife of former prime minister Boris Johnson said she is still not recovered after contracting flu and pneumonia.

Ms Johnson posted an image on Instagram showing her in a hospital bed and added: “It could take another few weeks until I feel like myself again.

“I didn’t expect to spend the first week of 2025 in hospital. After having a nasty chest infection for nearly 18 days at home over Christmas, it just got out of hand and I was struggling to breathe properly.”

She also posted a tribute to NHS doctors and nurses at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxfordshire, describing them as “the best people on Earth”.

“I cannot thank them enough. When I was particularly low, one nurse even serenaded me by my bed. Unbelievable kindness,” she wrote.

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Ms Johnson also admitted she “really, really wished” she had got the flu jab this year.

“It totally slipped my mind. No guarantee, but I very possibly wouldn’t have spent the last 3 weeks horribly, horribly ill had I got it,” she said.

“Obviously check with your doctor but my strong advice is to get the bloody flu jab.”

It is not clear when the photograph was taken, but Ms Johnson appears to have since left hospital.

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A second image, posted to her Instagram account, shows gifts her children gave to her to take to hospital. They include her son Wilf’s “favourite dinosaur toy” called Greenie, and her daughter Romy’s princess key ring.

She ended her message with: “health and family are everything”.

As prime minister, Mr Johnson became seriously ill with COVID-19 in April 2020 and spent time in intensive care.

The couple’s son was born later the same month and was named Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, partly in tribute to two doctors, Nick Hart and Nick Price, who treated Mr Johnson.