Vaccine jabs for swine flu to continue in summer

Published on Thursday 18 February 2010 21:53

PATIENTS most at risk from swine flu will continue to be offered the vaccination throughout the summer, despite a steady drop in cases in Scotland.

The jab will be available to those in the first groups of at-risk patients – health workers, those with chronic conditions and pregnant women – in the summer.

But the Scottish Government said vaccination for children under five would finish around the end of April.

The move follows advice from UK vaccine experts about what should happen next during the flu pandemic. The latest figures show the rate of people seeing their GP with flu symptoms dropped again last week.

Across Scotland there were 76.6 GP consultations with flu-like symptoms per 100,000, a decrease on the previous week's 79.6.

No samples taken from patients tested positive for the H1N1 virus, compared to last week's figure of 3.2 per cent.

There was also a drop in the proportion of cold and flu-related calls to NHS 24, down from 2.5 per cent to 2.2 per cent.

As of 15 February, there have been 1,539 people hospitalised with swine flu since the start of the outbreak. In the last week nobody has required hospital admission. There have been 68 deaths so far.

Uptake of the vaccination among under-65s with chronic health problems stands at 53.8 per cent, and 54.5 per cent for those over 65 with health problems. The uptake rate in front-line health and social care staff is 51.5 per cent and 32.4 per cent respectively.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "I am pleased to see that figures continue to indicate that the number of people catching swine flu in Scotland is decreasing. For most people the H1N1 virus has mild symptoms but some, especially those who we have defined as a priority, can suffer severe complications."