Death toll from swine flu doubles in month as virus kills two more

Published on Sunday 25 October 2009 21:06

TWO more Scottish patients with swine flu have died, it emerged yesterday as a hard-hitting advertising campaign was announced to highlight the dangers of the virus.

An 81-year-old woman at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and a 50-year-old woman at Glasgow's Western Infirmary died after suffering from the H1N1 virus.

Both patients were said to have "significant underlying health conditions". It brings the total death toll linked to swine flu in Scotland to 23 – more than double the figure at the start of the month.

The latest deaths came as GPs across Scotland started to receive supplies of the pandemic flu vaccine to give to identified at-risk patients.

The new advertising campaign being launched this week features a father travelling home from work, sneezing and spreading germs as he goes.

When he finally arrives home, he turns the volume down on the television as his son watches cartoons. The youngster then picks up the remote control before sucking his thumb.

The campaign – under the slogan Catch It, Kill It, Bin It – will run on TV and in poster form as health officials increase efforts to educate the public about how they can protect themselves against the H1N1 virus.

The vaccination programme, which started last week among hospital patients and staff, is now beginning to extend to GP practices with the hope of vaccinating all 1.3 million in the at-risk groups by Christmas.

Some GPs have complained they are already being overwhelmed by calls from patients wanting the vaccine. But they have been given little information about when they can expect supplies to arrive, meaning surgeries cannot plan special clinics to give patients the jab.

While some GPs will get supplies this week, others will have to wait until next month before the first jabs arrive.

Health boards and the Scottish Government say they are reliant on the vaccine manufacturers to deliver supplies to them so GPs can administer the jabs as quickly as possible.

The first people to receive the jabs will include pregnant women, those with chronic health conditions such as asthma and diabetes, and people living with patients with compromised immune systems.

Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "Vaccination is our best defence against this virus. I urge everyone who is offered the vaccine to accept it, in order to help minimise the impact of this virus.

"The vaccination programme is on track. It will have a phased introduction as supplies become available from the manufacturers. Supplies will start to arrive in GP practices from today but GPs have been advised that it will be into November before all practices have supplies."

Ms Sturgeon added that patients in priority groups would be contacted by their GP to be invited for vaccination, and the NHS expected to have offered it to all those in the priority groups by the end of the year.

A decision on whether the vaccination programme will be extended to others outside the at-risk groups is due in the next couple of weeks. This could see vaccinations of healthy people starting after Christmas, with the hope that a third wave of the pandemic could be avoided.