Heart Beat

July 30 – Teenagers may be offered booster shots against whooping cough as an outbreak of the disease continues to spread through England. By the end of June more than twice as many cases as in the whole of 2011 had already been recorded – and five babies have died, according to the Health Protection [...]

July 26 – All British children over the age of two are to get the annual flu vaccine, it was announced yesterday. Experts hope the measure would stop the spread of any flu epidemic through schools and nurseries. Children would be spared injection – and would simply have the vaccine sprayed up their noses. The [...]

April 13 – Parents were today urged to have their children vaccinated against whooping cough after 665 laboratory confirmed cases were recorded in England and Wales in the first three months of 2012. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) in England and Wales said the number of cases between January and March compared to total of [...]

November 18 – NHS staff may have rallied to the call to have the flu vaccine this winter, according to figures published yesterday. So far some 29 per cent of have been vaccinated – compared with 11 per cent at the same time last year. Employers and trade unions have been pressing the point this [...]

November 17 – Government advisers are to spend more time considering whether to extend the flu vaccination programme to children, it was announced yesterday. There has been growing pressure to vaccinate children because of the rapid spread of viruses through schools – as well as their vulnerability to swine flu. Experts say they are hoping [...]

October 10 – Midwives are being trained to give the flu jab to pregnant women as the NHS seeks avert the problems of last winter. Several women died last winter as swine flu continued to spread. In Lancashire, a special training programme is under way for midwives so they can give the vaccine directly to [...]

October 8 – Asthma campaigners have urged people with the condition to ensure they get the flu vaccine. Cher Piddock, a nurse specialist with Asthma UK, says most people with asthma know that colds and flu trigger attacks. She said asthmatics should speak to their GP to arrange their free flu vaccine.

September 6 – Nurses were coming under pressure to agree to flu vaccination today as shock figures showed only a minority agreeing to the jab last winter – in spite of the threat of swine flu. The figures show that in total just 30 per cent of hospital nurses and midwives were vaccinated. Fewer than [...]