Child Flu Vaccine To Press Ahead

December 9th 2009

The NHS is to press ahead with swine flu vaccination of infants and young children in spite of failing to reach agreement with family doctor representatives, it was announced yesterday.

Health secretary Andy Burnham ordered the programme to begin before Christmas after talks with the BMA broke down.

Instead of a national agreement, primary care trusts have been ordered to put in place local arrangements.

The government is anxious to press ahead with the programme for children aged between six months and five years after its advisers identified infants as being at high risk of complications from the H1N1 virus.

Mr Burnham said: "It is disappointing that we have not been able to come to a national agreement with GPs to vaccinate children from six months to five years old.

"But we are now getting on with the job and asking local health trusts to put local plans in place so that vaccination of these children can begin seamlessly.

"The supply of vaccine is increasing and we should therefore be able to meet the demand for vaccine and begin vaccinating children before Christmas."

The BMA said mid-winter was a busy time of year for GPs and the government had failed to offer enough support to free staff to conduct the programme.

GP committee chairman Dr Laurence Buckman said: "We sincerely wanted to be able to reach a national agreement with the UK governments about a process for vaccinating the under fives against swine flu.

"We would encourage Local Medical Committees and Primary Care Organisations to put in place arrangements that are sensitive to the workload pressures in their area. These should be agreed as soon as possible.

"We appreciate that parents of young children might be worried when they hear that there will be no national framework and want to assure them that this does not mean their children will not be vaccinated."

 

 

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