Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Thursday, 15 October 2009 16:26 UK
Swine flu jabs starting next week
By Nick Triggle
Health reporter, BBC News
The swine flu vaccination programme will get under way in the UK next week, the government says.
Patients in hospital deemed at risk of the infection - including pregnant women and people with health problems - will get the jab from 21 October.
The following week will see GPs starting to call in patients until over 13m people in the priority groups have been vaccinated.
It comes as the number of deaths has hit 106 after another rise in cases.
The weekly infection rate is now at its highest since the peak over the summer, but the rate of increase is still short of the doubling that would represent a surge in cases.
Last week Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said the slower second peak now being seen in the UK was a "lucky break" as it was buying time for the roll-out of the vaccination programme.
There has been some concern about the situation regarding pregnant women as they have not been part of the clinical trials that have tested the two jabs being used in the UK.
But Sir Liam said it was important for pregnant women to be immunised as they have a particularly high risk of complications from swine flu - two pregnant women have died in the past week alone, including a 17-year-old from Scotland.
"The sensible approach to reducing risk is to get the vaccine. It will save lives."
Sir Liam said while he was encouraged by the relatively slow rise in the new infections, he was concerned by the increasing number of complications being seen.
The number of deaths has jumped by 16 in the past week, while a fifth of people in hospital are in critical care - the highest rate since the pandemic began.
In total, there were 27,000 cases in England in the past week, compared to 18,000 the week before.
While the numbers are going up, they are still short of the doubling that would represent a surge in the pandemic and are well short of the 100,000 seen at the end of July.
In Scotland, 12,500 people are thought to have contracted swine flu in the last seven days compared with 6,800 in the previous week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8309217.stm
Swine flu jabs starting next week
By Nick Triggle
Health reporter, BBC News
The swine flu vaccination programme will get under way in the UK next week, the government says.
Patients in hospital deemed at risk of the infection - including pregnant women and people with health problems - will get the jab from 21 October.
The following week will see GPs starting to call in patients until over 13m people in the priority groups have been vaccinated.
It comes as the number of deaths has hit 106 after another rise in cases.
The weekly infection rate is now at its highest since the peak over the summer, but the rate of increase is still short of the doubling that would represent a surge in cases.
Last week Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said the slower second peak now being seen in the UK was a "lucky break" as it was buying time for the roll-out of the vaccination programme.
There has been some concern about the situation regarding pregnant women as they have not been part of the clinical trials that have tested the two jabs being used in the UK.
But Sir Liam said it was important for pregnant women to be immunised as they have a particularly high risk of complications from swine flu - two pregnant women have died in the past week alone, including a 17-year-old from Scotland.
"The sensible approach to reducing risk is to get the vaccine. It will save lives."
Sir Liam said while he was encouraged by the relatively slow rise in the new infections, he was concerned by the increasing number of complications being seen.
The number of deaths has jumped by 16 in the past week, while a fifth of people in hospital are in critical care - the highest rate since the pandemic began.
In total, there were 27,000 cases in England in the past week, compared to 18,000 the week before.
While the numbers are going up, they are still short of the doubling that would represent a surge in the pandemic and are well short of the 100,000 seen at the end of July.
In Scotland, 12,500 people are thought to have contracted swine flu in the last seven days compared with 6,800 in the previous week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8309217.stm
