UK: GPs told to step up the swine flu vaccination

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/Swine_flu/article6934115.ece

From The Times

November 27, 2009

GPs told to step up the swine flu vaccination

Rose, Health Correspondent

Family doctors have been told to step up the national swine flu vaccination campaign after the largest weekly increase in deaths linked to the virus.

About a million people in England who are in “at-risk” groups were immunised in the first month of the programme.

This is still only about one in ten of those most at risk, and although Salisbury, director of immunisation at the Department of Health, described it as “very good”, he said that he wished it were better.

GPs would have to manage supply and demand at their surgeries to increase the numbers being vaccinated, he said.

Professor Salisbury said he would have hoped that more people would have been vaccinated at this stage, but accepted that doctors were doing their best. He added that information was not yet available on whether people were declining the jab.

“That GPs have got through one million doses in the time available is very good,” he added. “Clearly I would like bigger numbers but that’s what we have got so far and it represents rollout of the vaccine stock.”

The number of deaths linked to the virus has risen to 242 for the United Kingdom, with 21 fatal cases being confirmed in England in the past seven days.

Overall, there were an estimated 46,000 new cases of swine flu in the past week, down from 53,000 in the week before. The number of people in hospital has fallen from 783 to 753.

Three more swine flu patients died in Scotland, taking the total number of deaths linked to the virus to 46. The patients were adults, and two had other health problems.

Sir Liam son, the Chief Medical Officer for England, admitted that the current pandemic is comparable with a normal winter flu season, judged by the number of people who have had swine flu or died.

But he said: “A winter flu outbreak does not kill young people and does not take under-5s into hospital and intensive care on this scale.”

However, the number of people catching swine flu in England appears to be remaining steady or falling.

Sir Liam added that the Government would review whether it needed to keep running the National Pandemic Flu Service for England, which has been enabling people to collect antiviral drugs without seeing a doctor.

“It is unlikely that we would take a decision on that before Christmas, but we will be looking very hard at it in January.”

Doctors are first vaccinating people with conditions such as asthma, heart disease and diabetes and then giving the jab to the under-5s. GPs, primary care trusts and acute hospitals in England have received ten million doses of the jab so far.

Vautrey, of the British Medical Association, said that some doctors had received their first batches of vaccine only in the past week or two.

“With seasonal flu we can vaccinate opportunistically — when patients come in for other appointments. But because of the way the swine flu one is being manufactured, we have to make sure we have enough patients so the vaccine is not wasted,” Dr Vautrey said.

“It is slowing it down, but to be fair I think it needed to be that way to get the amount we needed manufactured.”

The Department of Health said surveys suggest that 65 per cent of people offered the jab intended to have it.