£13m injection for doctors in swine-flu vaccination drive

Published on Monday 14 September 2009 22:15

DOCTORS are to be paid £5.25 for every dose of flu vaccine they give to patients in high-risk groups, in a deal potentially worth more than £13 million for GPs in Scotland.

The vaccine will initially be given to 1.3 million Scots in the priority groups first in the queue for the jab.

But it is not yet clear whether people will need one or two doses of the vaccine, potentially double the initial cost of the programme.

The Scottish Government has previously estimated that the entire cost of providing the jabs, including buying the vaccine and delivering it to patients, would be more than 100 million to cover the whole population.

Ministers have been pressing the Treasury for contingency funding to help cover the costs of the programme.

Yesterday a spokeswoman said the case was still being put to the Treasury, but that as it stood the programme would be funded by the Scottish Government.

The agreement with doctors comes after long negotiations with the British Medical Association (BMA) over how much family doctors will be paid for administering the jab to people across the UK.

The 5.25 agreed per dose is less than the 7.50 GPs receive for giving the seasonal flu jab.

The payment will cover the cost of GPs contacting patients, giving the vaccine and potentially taking on extra staff.

The vaccination programme is due to start next month, subject to licensing, and more than 13 million Britons in high-risk groups and health workers will be invited to have the jab.

Those in high-risk groups include people with chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes, and pregnant women. But potentially the jab could be offered to the whole population in the next year.

Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the deal reached with doctors.

"This will allow us to press on with implementing our vaccination plans. Vaccination is the best defence we have against the H1N1 virus.

"The cost represents a good deal for both sides, offering a substantial saving on the normal rate for the seasonal flu vaccination, whilst still covering GP practices' additional costs in administering the vaccine.

"Scotland will be one of the first countries in the world to receive the vaccine supply, thanks to contracts put in place before this outbreak," she said.

Dr Dean Marshall, chairman of the BMA's Scottish GPs committee, said: "GPs are used to delivering large-scale vaccination programmes that target patients at highest risk and this agreement means that GPs and their teams will have the resources they need to take on the additional workload and run the vaccination programme smoothly and efficiently."

One jab may be enough to offer healthy protection

ONE dose of the swine flu vaccine is enough to protect people against the virus, new research has suggested.

The results of GlaxoSmithKline's first trial on its swine flu vaccine – which will be used in the UK – showed that one dose produced a strong immune response.

The government has ordered enough vaccine from GSK and another firm, Baxter, to immunise the entire UK population against swine flu with two doses each.

GSK said its results showed one dose could "provide a strong immune response" that exceeded the requirement set down by authorities which would license the vaccine.

Its clinical trial, in Germany, involves 130 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 60. More than 98 per cent of the group receiving the vaccine with an adjuvant had an adequate immune response three weeks after receiving the jab. A vaccine adjuvant helps to boost the immune response to the main virus and strains that may develop out of it.

Jean Stephenne, president of GSK Biologicals, said: "This trial provides encouraging data on the potential use of a single dose of our pandemic vaccine.

"We have shared these data with regulatory authorities and governments who are making key decisions on urgent global public healthcare at this time."

GSK is conducting a further 15 studies on more than 9,000 people across the age spectrum in Europe, Canada and the US.