Summary: The sudden outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infections in 2019 in China has quickly transformed into a pandemic and threatened all the countries of the world. The effect of COVID-19 turned out to be much deeper than anyone could initially think, changing even the governments' health policy and leading to the unprecedented global effort as far as finding effective treatment and vaccine is considered. However, the painful lesson of Spanish flu and other epidemics, including RSV infections, should also be remembered. All of these threats must lead to better organisation of epidemiological surveillance. Cyclic viral epidemics clearly show the vital role of general practitioners (GPs) in preventing and reducing infection's range. The current epidemiological situation in Poland results from low social awareness of the potential complications of infectious diseases, low vaccination level and inefficient reporting of new cases, leading to miscalculation of an actual range of diseases. According to the National Institute of Public Health- National Institute of Hygiene reports, the percentage of the population vaccinated against flu, especially among children under four years of age, is dramatically low and reaches only 2%. Therefore, an active engagement of GPs in reporting new cases to the Sentinel system and persuading Polish citizens to vaccinate is crucial.